Telenor says sale of Myanmar unit gets final approval from junta

Myanmar's junta has given the final approval for the sale of Norwegian telecommunications company Telenor's operations in the country to a local company and a Lebanese investment firm, the firm said on Friday.

Sigve Brekke, Telenor's President and CEO, said in a statement posted online that the firm had to leave the country to "adhere to our own values on human rights and responsible business, and because local laws in Myanmar conflict with European laws."

"The security situation is extreme and deteriorating, and we must ensure that our exit does not increase the safety risk for employees," he said.

Reuters reported the approval earlier on Friday, citing three sources with knowledge of the deal.

According to a letter of approval sent on March 15, seen by two of the people, the transfer of Telenor's Myanmar unit to its new owners must happen within five days.

Myanmar authorities did not immediately respond to telephone and email requests for comment.

Telenor, one of the biggest foreign investors in Myanmar, sought to leave the country after last year's military coup. The company told Reuters in September it was selling its operations to avoid European Union sanctions after "continued pressure" from the junta to activate intercept surveillance technology.

Its departure has been mired in difficulty.

Military leaders late last year rejected its plan to sell its local operations to Lebanon's M1 Group for $105 million, Reuters reported. Instead, they wanted M1 to partner with a local firm, Shwe Byain Phyu.

Reuters reported in February that Shwe Byain Phyu, whose chairman has a history of business ties to the military, will own 80% of the unit while M1 will own the rest.

Shwe Byain Phyu has denied ties to the Myanmar army and previously said it was "selected by Telenor ... because it was the most unrelated to the military".

In its statement, Telenor said the agreement to sell the Myanmar unit was with M1 alone, but added that the "regulatory approval requires that M1 ensures a local majority owner after the closing of the transaction between Telenor and M1."

The firm said on Friday that M1 had informed Telenor that its local partner, Shwe Byain Phyu, would be the 80% owner after the transaction

"Sanctions screening from external consultants has assured Telenor that Shwe Byain Phyu and its owners are not subject to any current international sanctions," Telenor said.

Reuters reported earlier in March that Telenor is planning to transfer $100 million held by its Myanmar operations to the unit’s new buyers - an amount roughly equivalent to how much it will be paid over five years, three people with knowledge of the deal's terms said.

M1 and Shwe Byain Phyu did not respond immediately to requests for comment by Reuters.

Senior foreign Telenor executives were barred from leaving Myanmar while negotiations around the sale were ongoing, a junta minister told Reuters last year.

Two of the sources said a senior Telenor foreign executive had recently received permission from authorities to fly out.

The company did not respond to requests for comment on whether its senior foreign staff had been permitted to leave Myanmar.

Civil rights groups have said the deal could put the data of 18 million people within the junta's reach and called on Telenor to delete personal information of customers.

Telenor has said doing so would violate local laws and expose employees to danger.

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