KUALA LUMPUR (May 30): Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has asked for more details on the planned merger of the Asian telecommunications operations of Norway’s Telenor ASA and Axiata Group Bhd on concerns over potential job losses. Telenor and Axiata, Malaysia’s biggest wireless carrier, announced the move earlier this month to create a company with 300 million customers in nine countries. A representative for Dr Mahathir’s office confirmed the prime minister’s concerns over job cuts after Bloomberg sought comment. Telenor, set to own 56.5% of the new company, has said the potential “synergies” from the deal would amount to about US$5 billion. The stock has advanced 18% this year, the best performance among the 30 members of FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index.

Source: The Edge Markets May 30, 2019 08:03 UTC