Singtel associate AIS not obliged to make $1.17 bil payment to National Telecom

 

Advanced Info Service Public Company (AIS), the Thai associate of SGX-listed Singapore Telecommunications (Singtel), is no longer obliged to make payment to National Telecom Public Company (NT) on claims made by the latter.

 

This comes after the Central Administrative Court resolved to revoke the arbitral tribunal&rsquo s order on the ground that amendments no.6 & 7 was binding on July 26.

 

Amendments no.6 & 7 refer to the reduction of revenue share in prepaid service and the deduction of roaming expenses to the cellular mobile telephone service agreement.

 

NT was previously known as the Telephone Organization of Thailand (TOT) Public Company.

 

On Jan 29, 2020, AIS was asked by the arbitral tribunal to pay NT a sum of 31.08 billion baht ($1.17 billion) plus interest.

Both companies had submitted a dispute to the Arbitration Institute in 2015 where NT claimed an additional payment of 62.77 billion baht on amendments no.6 & 7.

 

At the time, NT made the claim that both amendments were not binding. As such, the company received lower revenue compared to the main service agreement.

 

While AIS is currently not obliged to pay NT, the latter still has the right to file an appeal with the Supreme Administrative Court within 30 days.

Singtel to sell US digital marketing unit Amobee for $331 million

  Singtel is selling Amobee to Britain' s Tremor International for an enterprise valuation of US$239 million (S$331 million), above the US digital media and advertising subsidiary' s carrying value of US$160 million.

 

The transaction, which excludes Amobee' s e-mail solutions business, will realise about US$197 million in net proceeds and is expected to complete by September this year.

 

In a bourse filing on Tuesday (July 26), Singtel said the divestment is in line with the group' s move to sharpen its business focus and recycle assets and capital into growth areas with higher returns.

 

Amobee was reclassified as a subsidiary held for sale as at end-March 2022, with a total asset value of $449.8 million and a net asset value of $216.6 million.

 

" This divestment reflects our resolve in executing our strategic reset. We are actively reshaping our portfolio to ensure optimal allocation of resources towards new growth drivers, as well as to improve shareholder value," said Singtel chief executive Yuen Kuan Moon.

 

News of the potential sale first emerged on June 20, when British news organisation Sky News reported that Tremor was in discussions with Singtel to purchase Amobee for £ 165 million (S$280.4 million).

 

Analysts viewed the deal as both earnings- and value-accretive for Singtel, which posted pre-tax losses of $70.2 million for financial year 2020 and $81.9 million for last year.