TeliaSonera to FranceTelecom: No Deal

Brad Molen  By on 10 Jun 08

This past Friday we broke the news that France Telecom was interested in buying out Swedish Telecom company TeliaSonera for the tune of $42 billion. Turns out that the deal went south.

Marketwatch reported that TeliaSonera’s board and the Swedish government (who own 37% of the company) actually rejected the offer almost immediately. They decided the offer “significantly undervalues” their business; the Finnish government, a 13.7% shareholder, has not yet commented.

Interestingly, FranceTelecom’s CEO was not so shocked at the rejection (talk about a man who handles rejection well!), and said the talks will continue. FT also claimed their intentions were friendly and had no hopes of a hostile takeover. As IntoMobile puts it, “when you think about it doesn’t make much sense when your primary shareholder is another government that may also have some other, non-economic interests.”

If the deal were to go through, this would be France Telecom’s biggest acquisition since it purchased Orange in 2000.

via MarketWatch via IntoMobile

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