Yoma to buy Telenor’s stake in Wave Money for US$40m instead of US$53m

YOMA Strategic ’s subsidiary will now acquire Telenor’s 51 per cent stake in Digital Money Myanmar (Wave Money) for US$40 million instead of the US$53 million announced earlier this year.

All other material terms from the previous share purchase agreement will remain unchanged, the group said in a bourse filing on Monday (Nov 21).

Both parties entered into an amendment agreement for the deal on Nov 18. They had agreed on the new consideration after taking into account their respective long-term business strategies for Myanmar and the economic outlook.

“The company remains confident that the financial services pillar will contribute a significant part of the group’s business performance over the next three to five years,” Yoma Strategic said.

Mainboard-listed Yoma Strategic, through its subsidiary Yoma MFS Holdings (YMFS), previously agreed to pay US$53 million for the Norwegian telecommunications giant controlling interest in Wave Money, a mobile financial services firm. This included 510,000 ordinary shares and 17.9 million redeemable preference shares.

Prior to the US$53 million deal, Yoma proposed to increase its existing shareholding and take a controlling interest in Wave Money via a US$76.5 million deal with Telenor in June 2020. It formed YMFS to restructure the holding of its interest in Wave Money.

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Yoma later informed shareholders that the Apr 30, 2021 long stop date to complete the proposed acquisition had not been extended, but talks with Telenor over opportunities regarding Wave Money remained.

Yoma Strategic was trading flat at S$0.096 as at 1.33 pm on Monday.