StarHub, M1 stocks rise as M1 shareholders said to explore sale

SINGAPORE — The Republic’s smallest publicly traded telecommunications company, M1, rose for a second day after its major shareholders said on Friday (March 17) that they are undertaking a strategic review on their investments in the phone operator.

Shares of rival StarHub and the M1 owners also rose.

Keppel Telecommunications & Transportation, Axiata Group and Singapore Press Holdings are exploring options including a sale of M1 as the city state gears up for a new entrant into the wireless market, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Earlier, M1 shares rose 0.9 per cent to S$2.21, on almost five times its three-month daily average volume. The stock jumped 7.9 per cent on Friday.

The operator had slumped 21 per cent from a peak in July 2016 after it reported a drop in profit.

Keppel Telecommunications & Transportation climbed 2.9 per cent, while Malaysian wireless carrier, Axiata, the biggest shareholder of M1, added 1.6 per cent on the Kuala Lumpur bourse and Singapore Press Holdings rose 0.6 per cent.

The potential sale of M1 comes as the city state prepares for the roll-out of a fourth mobile operator with TPG Telecom due to begin wireless services in the coming months.

The regulator has said it wants to introduce more competition in the city state to bring down phone bills and improve services.

“There is no assurance that any transaction will materialize from such strategic review or that any definitive or binding agreement will be reached,” Singapore Press Holdings said in a filing to the Singapore Exchange on Friday.

Axiata also released a similar statement to the Bursa Malaysia exchange. BLOOMBERG