KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 27): Axiata Group Bhd said the planned merger between its unit Celcom Axiata Bhd and Digi.com Bhd depends on the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) now as both parties had completed their side of the proposal.
Axiata president and group chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Izzaddin Idris said the group made its submissions to the regulator in July and continued to engage with the MCMC to provide clarifications that the latter sought for.
“As far as we are concerned, we are providing all the necessary information that the MCMC has requested, and it will go through the process of looking at public interest and possibly even do a public inquiry.
“I don’t know how long that would take, but I think if we give ourselves a four-month or five-month time frame, that should be a sufficient cushion. But I don’t want to give any timeline because I don’t want to put pressure on the MCMC or anything like that,” he said during a press conference earlier today.
Asked if the group would look at other partners if the merger does not materialise, Izzaddin said that is currently not in Axiata’s consideration, adding that the group is hopeful to get the approval for the merger.
Meanwhile, he said that Celcom and Digi remain as competitors, noting that the merger is still only at the proposal stage.
“We are not allowed to compare notes or agree on certain strategies in approaching certain markets. That would be anticompetitive and against the law. We remain as competitors until such time the deal is completed, which is months down the road,” he said.
Izzaddin hopes that the merger would be completed sooner rather than later as there will be a period of integration between the parties, which will create some challenges in terms of maintaining the network and quality of service for both Digi and Celcom.
However, he said that it “certainly will not be beyond the second quarter of 2022 (2Q22)”, although it really depends on the approval of the authorities, particularly the MCMC.
Axiata reported a 201% surge in net profit to RM227.76 million for the second quarter ended June 30, 2021 (2QFY21), from RM75.6 million for the preceding quarter, on the back of a 5.5% growth in revenue to RM6.39 billion, supported by better results across most of its geographical segments.
Year-on-year (y-o-y), its net profit increased 185% from RM80.02 million, while revenue increased 10% from RM5.79 billion.
The group declared an interim dividend of four sen per share for the quarter under review.
At 4.02pm, Axiata had risen three sen or 0.8% to RM4.03, translating into a market capitalisation of RM36.97 billion.