Telenor considers offloading Central and Eastern Europe operations

Telenor has said it has received unsolicited interest from an unnamed organization which is interested in acquiring its Central and Eastern Europe operations.

Details are very thin on the ground right now, but considering Telenor has not been setting the world alight in recent quarterly calls, such a cash injection and an opportunity to focus more acutely on the core business might be welcomed by investors.

“With a view of creating shareholder value, Telenor has engaged in a process to evaluate the interest received. Telenor expects to conduct these assessments in the first quarter of 2018, “ the company said in a statement. “The assessment will not impact Telenor’s operations, customers or employees.”

Central and Eastern European operations have been performing relatively well in recent years, contributing 9% to total revenues. Looking at the year-on-year comparisons for the last quarter, Hungary, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Serbia all demonstrated increases in both revenue and operating profit. As you would expect, these are markets which are notably smaller than Telenor’s Nordic playground, though any win is a good result in the present telco climate.

The approach is under consideration for the moment, and Telenor has said it will not release any additional information prior to the completion of this review.