Telenor Group agreed to sell a remaining 51% stake in a mobile financial services provider in Myanmar in a deal that will see Norway’s biggest telecommunications firm move a step closer to exiting a country that has seen increased civilian strife since a military coup last year.
The stake in Digital Money Myanmar, also known as Wave Money, will be sold to Singapore-listed Yoma Strategic Holdings Ltd., which will lead a consortium of investors to fund the $53 million purchase, the companies said in a stock exchange filing Monday. Yoma Strategic is controlled by Myanmar-born property tycoon Serge Pun.
Telenor last year also agreed to sell its mobile operations in Myanmar to Beirut-based M1 Group for $105 million. However there have been reports of a delay in closing the deal as the junta wants a Myanmar buyer instead and Pun is seen as one of the interested parties for the assets.
The Norwegian firm is among the companies leaving Myanmar, which has plunged in to a turmoil after the February coup led by army chief Min Aung Hlaing. The latest deal means Yoma will be the largest shareholder of Wave Money, which handled $8.7 billion in remittance and payments in 2020, accounting for around 12% of the country’s gross domestic product.
The agreement also completes the divestment process announced in June 2020, when Telenor sold 34% in Wave Money for $76.5 million. Wave Money was formed in 2016 as a joint venture between Telenor, Yoma Bank and Yoma Strategic Holdings.