20 September 2016 12:02 am
Amid speculative reports of Malaysia’s Axiata Group Berhad (Axiata), the parent company of Sri Lanka’s Dialog Axiata PLC (Dialog), trimming its exposure in overseas ventures, Axiata yesterday said it would “continue to fortify its commitment” to Dialog and the Sri Lanka market.
“Dialog is one of the top performing investments in the Asia-wide portfolio of the group and Axiata will continue to support the company as it continues to lead the country’s connectivity sector into the emerging digital era,” the company said in a media release released only to the Sri Lankan media.
Bloomberg newswire last week published an article quoting unnamed sources of Axiata Group Berhad’s plans to trim its overseas portfolio to raise up to US $ 700 million.
In a statement issued on the same day, Axiata clarified that while there were no specific transactions envisaged, the group, in its normal course of business, continuously reviews multiple strategic options, which would enhance shareholder value, including but not limited to the optimization of its investment portfolio across 10 Asian countries encompassing a customer base of approximately 300 million.
Within Sri Lanka, Axiata has been a committed investor since 1995 and has been recognized as the single largest foreign direct investor in the country by the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka. Investments made towards the development of Sri Lanka’s telecommunications sector by Dialog exceed US $ 1.9 billion. Dialog now ranks among the five most valuable companies on Sri Lanka’s Stock Exchange and is also Sri Lanka’s premier connectivity provider and mobile market leader.