SINGTEL requested a trading halt on Wednesday (Mar 13) afternoon shortly after the Australian Financial Review (AFR) reported that the telecommunications giant was in advanced discussions to sell Optus to Canadian private equity firm Brookfield.
The Australian daily had claimed in an article published at 3.10 pm (Singapore time) that the deal was estimated to be worth some A$16 billion (S$14.1 billion).
According to its sources, negotiations between Singtel and Brookfield were “well advanced”.
Shares of Singtel rose as much as 4.2 per cent or S$0.10 to S$2.49 as at 3.34 pm amid heavy trading volumes, following the release of the report.
The counter later eased slightly to S$2.48, up S$0.09 or 3.8 per cent, before the group called for a trading halt at 3.35 pm. More than 71.4 million of its securities had changed hands at the time.
Less than an hour later at 4.21 pm, Singtel clarified that there was “no impending deal to offload Optus for the said sum” of A$16 billion, as reported by AFR.
“Optus remains an integral and strategic part of the Singtel group and we are committed to Australia for the long term,” said Singtel.
“Our current focus has been on improving network resilience and conducting a CEO search.”
The group added that it regularly conducts strategic reviews of its portfolio to “optimise the value of (its) assets and businesses, and will explore all options to maximise shareholder value”.
Following the release of this statement, the group requested to lift its trading halt with effect from 8.30 am on Thursday.
