Telekom Malaysia's shares go on sale

Telekom Malaysia's shares go on sale

KUALA LUMPUR: The sale of shares in Telekom Malaysia opened Monday as part of the government's efforts to woo more investors to the giant phone company and raise as much as 3 billion ringgit (US$789 million).

State investment arm Khazanah Nasional, which owns about 42 percent of Telekom, has hired Credit Suisse First Boston Corp., CIMB and AmMerchant Bank to manage the sale to local and foreign investors, said Khazanah chief executive Anwar Aji.

Khazanah will decide Tuesday on the final number of shares to be sold depending on the offers it gets, he told financial news wire AFX-Asia.

"We have our target in terms of amount and price, but the final portion to be placed depends on the price," Anwar said.

A report in The Star newspaper at the weekend quoted sources as saying Khazanah would sell 150-300 million shares in Telekom in a private placement which could raise as much as 3 billion ringgit.

The shares may be sold at a discount of between five and nine percent to Telekom's market price, it said. Telekom share closed Monday trade at 9.85 ringgit, down 0.25 from Friday's close.

Second Finance Minister Nor Mohamed Yakcop said the move was to enhance liquidity for Telekom shares by making them more accessible to the public.

The government has moved to discard stakes in some of the nation's biggest companies, including power firm Tenaga Nasional and Commerce Asset-Holding, to attract investors and trim its budget deficit to achieve a balanced budget by 2006, analysts say. -- AFP