TeliaSonera sells Stofa to Ratos
TeliaSonera has signed an agreement on the sale of its Danish subsidiary Stofa to Ratos, a listed private equity company with Nordic focus. The sales price is DKK 1.1 billion on a cash and debt free basis (Enterprise value).
TeliaSonera acquired Stofa in 1995. During the whole period, Stofa has operated as an independent subsidiary of the TeliaSonera Group, and during the last 3 years all services provided by Stofa has been marketed under the ‘Stofa’ brand. Today, Stofa offers Television services, high speed broadband and telephone services to its customers.
Per-Arne Blomquist CFO of TeliaSonera comments: “In the fifteen years that Stofa has been a part of the TeliaSonera Group we have seen strong progress in the company’s offerings and its market position, however its operations are not in line with our core strategy in Denmark. We are therefore very pleased to be able to hand over Stofa to an owner that can further develop the company.”
Ole Simonsen, CEO of Stofa, comments: “The sale of Stofa is a natural next step that will enable Stofa to continue to offer flexible and innovative product offerings,” and he continues: “We are looking forward to start a new chapter in Stofa’s development with Ratos as owner. Ratos has significant experience within innovation – an experience that will benefit all of Stofa’s customers.”
Handelsbanken Capital Market has acted as exclusive financial advisor to TeliaSonera. The agreement is subject to approval of relevant competition authorities as well as TeliaSonera Board approval. TeliaSonera will recognize a capital gain of over DKK 500 million which will be reported in the third quarter 2010.
About Stofa
Stofa was founded in Denmark 1959 and is headquartered in Horsens. Stofa offers its services to approximately 345,000 households in more than 300 antenna association, through a 2,100 km fiber back-bone. Revenue in 2009 was DKK 1,024 million, EBITDA was DKK 166 million and EBIT was DKK 92 million. Stofa has approximately 500 employees.
TeliaSonera AB discloses the information provided herein pursuant to the Swedish Securities Markets Act and/or the Swedish Financial Instrument Trading Act. The information was submitted for publication at 1.45 p.m CET on July 8, 2010.
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Forward-Looking Statements
Statements made in the press release relating to future status or circumstances, including future performance and other trend projections are forward-looking statements. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future. There can be no assurance that actual results will not differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements due to many factors, many of which are outside the control of TeliaSonera.
TeliaSonera provides network access and telecommunication services in the Nordic and Baltic countries, the emerging markets of Eurasia, including Russia and Turkey, and in Spain. TeliaSonera is also the leading European wholesale provider of quality cross-border voice, IP and capacity services, with a wholly-owned international carrier network. TeliaSonera’s services help people and companies communicate in an easy, efficient and environmentally friendly way. TeliaSonera creates value by focusing on providing world-class customer experience, securing quality in networks and achieving a best-in-class cost structure. In 2009, TeliaSonera’s net sales amounted to SEK 109 billion, and at the end of December 2009 the total number of subscriptions was 148 million in 20 countries. The TeliaSonera share is listed on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm and NASDAQ OMX Helsinki. Read more at www.teliasonera.com