This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on September 18, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: edotco Group Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Axiata Group Bhd, has cancelled its plan to acquire 13,000 towers from Pakistan Mobile Communications Ltd in Pakistan.

The deal, when announced in August 2017, was valued at US$940 million (about RM4 bilion then).

The termination has been agreed to by the seller, edotco said in a press statement yesterday.

“The transaction was subject to a number of conditions and terminated due to the non-fulfilment of the conditions precedent to the SPA [sale and purchase agreement] within the stipulated time frame, in particular regulatory approval for the resulting change of control contemplated under the SPA,” edotco explained.

Nevertheless, the company said it remains committed to Pakistan and would continue to grow its existing business under edotco Pakistan, comprising today the towers acquired by Tanzanite Towers that was carried out earlier this year.

“We do not foresee this affecting our business goals and aspirations. We are confident in the potential of the growing market in Pakistan and are committed to the existing operations there. We continue to develop our pipeline of opportunities into Pakistan as well as into other markets in South and Southeast Asia and are confident we will be able to meet our goals for business growth,” said edotco chief executive officer Suresh Sidhu.

Arif Hussain, country managing director for edotco Pakistan, added: “We have seen strong progress in Pakistan since our first acquisition here and business continues to grow with new orders for sites as well as high demand for adjacent opportunities such as energy solutions. We remain focused on building the business in Pakistan.”