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Why a Chinese coal miner may be vying for Singapore Mobile Carrier M1

SINGAPORE — Singapore’s smallest telecom company has a ringtone loud enough to be heard in a coalmine in China’s Shanxi province.

Reuters file photo

Reuters file photo

SINGAPORE — Singapore’s smallest telecom company has a ringtone loud enough to be heard in a coalmine in China’s Shanxi province.

Shanxi Meijin Energy Co is among bidders for M1 Ltd, which has a 24 per cent share of Singapore’s wireless market, roughly half of industry leader Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. China Broadband Capital is also in the race, according to a Bloomberg News report Thursday (April 27).

The telecom operator’s largest owners - Axiata Group Bhd, Keppel Telecommunications & Transportation Ltd, and Singapore Press Holdings Ltd - disclosed last month that they had appointed Morgan Stanley to help with a strategic review, including a possible sale.

M1, which has a market value of S$2 billion (US$1.4 billion), is on the block because it’s the most vulnerable to the impending entry of a fourth player. A unit of Australia’s TPG Telecom Ltd won the bid in December to become Singapore’s fourth telco.

More competition could put at risk a part of the S$69 to S$70 SingTel and its smaller rival StarHub Ltd. garner from each of their postpaid customers every month. But M1’s average per-user revenue was only S$58 last year. Unlike its rivals, it neither has other telecom markets to run to, nor a pay TV business to cushion the fall. Further price erosion would be risky.

So why are Chinese bidders, as well as Bahrain Telecommunications Co.and private equity funds, circling? What M1 lacks in competitive standing, it more than makes up for with capital efficiency. SingTel uses 43 times more capital to earn 25 times as large a profit.

A sale would suit M1’s owners. Axiata may be reluctant to pile on more debt to buttress its 29 per cent stake. Meanwhile, Keppel T&T, which is controlled by rig builder Keppel Corp, could do with a decently priced disposal of its 19 per cent holding. While Nomura Holdings Inc. says the funk in offshore drilling activity has run its course, crude oil prices aren’t exactly surging.

Holding on to a non-core business that faces an uncertain future may not be prudent. Besides, Temasek Holdings Pte, Singapore’s state investor, might want Keppel to get prepared for a long-drawn slump in oil rig demand by monetizing the telecom investment.

M1’s return on capital is among the highest in the developed world, according to Credit Suisse Group AG telecom analyst Varun Ahuja. That may not last, but an 80 per cent dividend payout policy still gives it the ring of an attractive wealth-management product.

Or at least that’s how it may sound from afar to Chinese coal investors.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners. BLOOMBERG

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