Singtel dismisses reports of Thai deal

SINGAPORE Telecommunications (Singtel) said on Wednesday it "regularly explores and reviews business opportunities, projects and proposals relating to its business and enters into discussions with various parties from time to time".

"When such discussions occur, there is no certainty that any transaction will arise from these discussions or that any definitive or binding agreement will be entered into pursuant to these discussions, and Singtel confirms that there is no definitive or binding agreement," the telco said in a filing to Singapore Exchange.

The comments were in response to a Business Times article, "Singtel, Temasek decline comment on Thai deal report", published on Aug 17.

The article had said both Singtel and Temasek Holdings on Tuesday refused to comment on a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report that a deal was in the offing for Temasek to sell a portion of its US$2.4 billion stake in Thailand's Intouch Holdings PCL, which translates to about 41 per cent of the total shareholding of the Thai company.

WSJ had reported that Singtel had revived talks to purchase a portion of Temasek's stake in the Thai company founded by former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The paper reported that Singtel had earlier explored a similar deal in 2013.