OSLO, Norway-Norway’s Reitan Group, a retail giant best known for its grocery chain and franchise holdings, made a bid for Sense Communications International, the country’s largest mobile virtual network operator (MVNO).
The bid of 3.50 Norwegian kroners (US$0.48) per share was assessed as fair by Norwegian investment bank First Securities, and the bank recommended shareholders to sell if no better offer emerged.
The Sense board said Thursday it believed the takeover bid would fall short of the 90-percent shareholder approval needed for success. Sense refused to allow Reitan to carry out due diligence on the grounds that the group owns competing MVNO Hello!.
The Reitan Group have plans to use its huge network of grocery stores, newsstands and 7-Elevens throughout Norway and Scandinavia as outlets for an integrated Sense-Hello! sale of phone cards. The Reitan Group is already Norway’s leading seller of prepaid phone cards.
Hello! is run by Sense’s founder Nadir Nalbant, who still owns 5.13 percent of Sense, according to Dagens Naeringsliv.
A quick poll of major Sense shareholders taken by financial daily Dagens Naeringsliv indicated that most felt the company is worth distinctly more than the Reitan bid.
Sense is the largest MVNO in Scandinavia. In Norway, it offers services via both Telenor Mobil’s and NetCom’s networks, allowing it a unique position in being able to offer customers a choice of network.
