5/22/22, 4:28 PM Telenor sale to military-linked consortium to be complete in mid-February | Myanmar NOW People stand in front of a Telenor-branded screen at an event in Magway, Myanmar on February 12, 2018 (EPA-EFE) People stand in front of a Telenor-branded screen at an event in Magway, Myanmar on February 12, 2018 (EPA-EFE) Telenor’s sale of its Myanmar subsidiary will be completed by February 15, according to a source with knowledge of the deal. The company will be majority-owned by the military-linked gems and petrol conglomerate, Shwe Byain Phyu. According to the source, two members of the military council are involved with Shwe Byain Phyu and will benefit from the sale, although Myanmar Now could not independently verify this. When asked to comment on the involvement of the junta members in the deal, Telenor Group communications director Cathrine Stang Lund replied that, “We are not commenting on speculations in the market.” Internal documents seen by Myanmar Now from the junta’s Post and Telecommunications Department under the Ministry of Transport and Communications indicate that the buyer will be Investcom Myanmar, a company that has not yet been registered. The document stated that Shwe Byain Phyu will be the majority owner of Investcom Myanmar. The source told Myanmar Now that Shwe Byain Phyu will own 70 to 80 percent of the company. Telenor, a leading telecommunications operator in Myanmar serving more than 18 million users, announced in early July it was selling its Myanmar unit to M1 Group for US$105m. The junta “privately” approved the sale of Telenor's operation in Myanmar to M1 Group and Shwe Byain Phyu last month after several months of stalling the process, Reuters reported on January 21. Shwe Byain Phyu has no known experience operating a telecommunications business. There is concern that if the sale is completed, the military junta will potentially be able to access the historical call data of Telenor’s 18 million users. Who owns Investcom? Myanmar Now could not find a record of Investcom on Myanmar’s company registry, however a company named Investcom Pte Ltd was incorporated in Singapore on July 29 last year, three weeks after Telenor Group’s sales announcement. Directors include Azmi Mikati, the CEO of M1 Group, and Jamal Ramadan, the CEO of M1 Enterprises. Azmi Mikati is the nephew of the current Lebanese Prime Minister, Najib Mikati. Initially, shares in Investcom’s Singapore business were held by M1 Infrastructure, a shell company registered in the Cayman Islands, a known offshore tax haven. https://www.myanmar-now.org/en/news/telenor-sale-to-military-linked-consortium-to-be-complete-in-mid-february 2/18