HELSINKI, Finland-BellSouth has rejected a US$650 million cash offer from the Norwegian state-controlled Telenor to acquire the U.S. corporation’s 46.5-percent equity interest in Sonofon, Denmark’s second-largest mobile telephone operator.
BellSouth is clearly holding out for a better price for its shares. Sonofon reported revenues of US$400 million in 2001.
Philip Wallace, BellSouth’s director of European operations, confirmed that Telenor had opened talks to acquire outright ownership in Sonofon in February. Wallace added that if BellSouth decided to sell its stake in Sonofon, it would look for a significantly higher price than that offered by Telenor.
“The situation is that we are interested in selling our interest in Sonofon. The reality is that Sonofon is performing very well in the strong Danish economy, and we will be looking for a price that will reflect this strength,” said Wallace.
Wallace highlighted the central reason Telenor wants to consolidate ownership in Sonofon, when he stated that while Telenor controlled a majority 53.5-percent stake, the Danish mobile company is operated as if each partner owns a 50-percent share.
Sonofon’s mobile network has more than 950,000 mobile subscribers. In June 2000, Telenor paid the Danish telecom divestor GN Great Nordic US$1.8 billion in cash for its 53.5-percent shareholding in Sonofon. At that time, Telenor had hoped to buy out BellSouth’s holding within two years.
