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Corporate, Finance, Global: Currently Nasdaq-listed, Millicom International Cellular is a mobile operator dedicated to emerging markets.
It may soon become the first target for a change of policy by Chinese-Government-controlled telecoms operations, as China Mobile is likely to be short-listed in a bid to acquire Millicom. China Mobile’s offer is believed to be in the region of US$4 billion, an indication of serious intent to expand abroad by the Chinese public sector. Millicom has over 9 million subscribers in 16 countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia, and was originally put up for sale in January by its owner, the Swedish telecoms and media group Kinnevik. The Chinese Government has been operating a Go Global policy which has meant urging overseas expansion by state companies. One aim of Go Global is to ensure that the Chinese enterprises will compete with US, European and Japanese multinationals. Perhaps surprisingly, some Chinese senior executives consider they have little competitive advantage, and feel it is hard to break into developed markets, preferred the emerging environments. Rivals in the bidding are believed to include Egypt's Orascom, Dubai-based Investcom, Kuwaiti MTC, Norway's Telenor and Mexico's America Movil. |
Date: 18-19 November 2008