Telenor breaks off talks on TeleDanmark stake
Friday, 18 May 2001Norwegian state telecoms operator Telenor said today that it had broken off talks with US group SBC Communications regarding SBC's 41.6% stake in Danish telecoms operator TeleDanmark.
'Telenor has decided not to continue the talks with SBC regarding SBC's stake in TeleDanmark,' the Norwegian group said in a note to the Oslo Stock Exchange.
Telenor provided no explanation, but according to today's Financial Times, TeleDanmark could not agree with SBC Communications, its largest shareholder, over its future.
Earlier this week, Telenor said it was in talks with SBC concerning its stake in TeleDanmark, leading to rumours of possible Telenor-TeleDanmark tie-up. A 50-50 merger would have created a company worth more than 18 billion euros.
In February, Telenor announced the sale to British Telecom of its 49.5% stake in Esat Digifone.
