Axiata keen to sale 11% of its shares in EXCL

JAKARTA. Malaysia based corporation Axiata Group Bhd is keen to sale 11% of its shares in PT XL Axiata Tbk (EXCL). As of 2016, Axiata Group through its subsidiary Axiata investments (Indonesia) holds 66.36% of EXCL shares.

According to Bloomberg, Axiata intends to collect a total of US$700 million of funds by selling a part of its business units in  overseas. A part of the funds will be allocated to trim their debts.

During the end of 2014 to the end of  June 2016, total debts of Axiata increased by 55% to RM21.5 billion or US$5.2 billion. A source who requested anonymity revealed that aside of selling 11% of its shares in EXCL, Axiata also plans to buy 30% of its shares in Celyon-based Dialog Axiata Plc and Smart Axiata Co, which is based in Cambodia.

Until the news was revealed, EXCL has not yet given official confirmation about Axiata's plan. “Please directly ask to the management of Axiata Group”, VP Corporate Communication of EXCL Turina Farouk told Kontan on Wednesday (14/9).

The management of Axiata Group said that the company will review some strategies to increase the value of its shares. Since the middle of 2016, Axiata has been rexploring some options, including to balance the portfolio and to review the company ownership of shares in its subsidiaries.

“Until now, the circulated information (about Axiata plan to sale its shares in EXCL) is still speculative”, Corporate Communication of Axiata Group Gowri Mohandas explained to Kontan through email on Wednesday (14/9).

Analyst at Phillip Securities Milka Mutiara estimated, the sale of 11% of Axiata shares in EXCL is supposed not to affect to the future performance of EXCL. “Axiata Group still owns 55% of EXCL shares”, Milka said.

Analyst at Mega Capita Leonardo Teo mentioned that the divestment plan has potential to decrease the price of EXCL shares in a short term. Yesterday, price of EXCL shares decrease by 3.40% to IDR2,560 for every share. However, Leonardo said that the recent decrease in EXCL shares was more driven by global sentiment, such as The Fed's plan to increase the interest rate.(Translator: Muhammad Farid)