Hedge fund Cevian and a number of partners have built a stake of several percent of the capital and votes in Nordic telecom operator TeliaSonera, daily Dagens Industri reported on August 31, citing unnamed sources.
The paper said the fund, run by Swedish financier Christer Gardell, who helped push through the sale of Swedish savings group Skandia to South Africa's Old Mutual, was lured by TeliaSonera's strong balance sheet, high costs, low valuation and diverse business.
"One does not have to split up or sell the firm in order for this to be a good investment," the business daily quoted an unidentified source as saying. "There is a lot else to do."
Gardell could not immediately be reached for comment but was quoted in the paper as saying: "There is speculation about all companies, which we are involved with. But I never comment on this."
Dagens Industri said there had been changes in the telecom operator's ownership during the summer with several of its biggest institutional owners increasing their stakes. The Swedish state has the largest holding at 45.3 percent, while the Finnish state is second with 13.7 percent.
Sweden's right-of-centre opposition alliance, which holds a slim lead in opinion polls over the ruling Social Democrats and their allies ahead of general elections in mid September, has said it would consider selling off some of the country's stakes in listed firms such as TeliaSonera, Nordea and SAS.
Comments
Comments are closed.