In this monthly feature,S&P Global Market Intelligence provides a roundup of recent marketdevelopments in Denmark,Sweden,Norway,Finlandand Iceland.
TOP NEWS
*Tencent Holdings Ltd.said June 21 that it agreed to acquirean 84.3% stake in Finnish mobile gaming developer Supercell Oy for about $8.6billion. A consortium set up by Tencent will buy 's entire 73.2%stake in Supercell, as well as stakes owned by other Supercellemployee-shareholders. The transaction is expected to close in the thirdquarter of 2016.
* Inmore recent news, Tencent is in talkswith potential investors to take part in its purchase of Supercell, The Wall Street Journal reported July 5,citing people with knowledge of the matter. Tencent is said to be indiscussions with the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, China InvestmentCorp. and Hillhouse Capital Group.
M&A
*Spanish conglomerate Abengoa SA inked an agreement to its fiber services subsidiaryAbentel to Ericsson AB,according to a July 6 news release. About 500 Abentel employees will joinEricsson upon the deal's completion, which is expected during the third quarterof 2016, subject to regulatory approval.
*Vodafone India isleading the race toacquire Telenor ASA'soperations in India, The Economic Times(India) reported July 6, citing two sources with knowledge of the matter. It isunclear whether the deal involves the entire company or Telenor's 1800-MHzspectrum, which can be used for both 4G and 2G services. The airwaves areestimated to be worth about $1 billion.
*MDC Partners Inc. andits unit MDC Partners UK HoldingsLtd. on July 1 closedthe acquisitionof 100% of the shares of Swedish advertising agency fromForsman & Bodenfors ekonomisk förening. Certain key executives of F&Band its subsidiaries have accepted new employment agreements in connection withthe deal.
*National Media Grouphas completed the acquisitionof an 80% stake in the Russian unit of ModernTimes Group MTG AB's pay TV business Viasat World. NMG will takemajority control of Viasat's 15 channels in Russia, Digital TV Europe reportedJune 24.
*TDC A/S said June 21that it is sellingits Swedish unit TDC Sverige AB, or TDC Sweden, to for 2.9 billion Swedishkronor. Tele2 is taking over local customers, more than 800 employees and localinfrastructure in Sweden. The sale is subject to the approval of the EuropeanCommission, and is expected to be finalized in the fourth quarter of 2016.
*MásMóvil Ibercom SA has clinched a deal to acquire TeliaCo. AB's Spanish mobile unit Yoigo. Telia said June 21 that it agreed to sell its76.6% stake in Yoigo to MásMóvil for €479 million. Minority shareholders ACS,FCC and Abengoa will retain their respective holdings in Yoigo, which total23.4%. The deal is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2016,subject to approval from Spanish antitrust authorities.
*Modern Times Group-owned TRACE TV acquiredAfrican video-on-demand platform Buni.tv, the latter confirmed via a June 18company Facebook Inc.post. The move comes as TRACE TV readies the launch of its VOD platform TRACEPlay later in 2016.
INTERNET, OTT AND MOBILE
*Verizon Communications Inc.said July 11 that it became the first U.S. carrier to its 5G radio specification, andentered pre-commercial 5G testing. The trial is being carried out in multiplelocations in New Jersey, Massachusetts and Texas. The completion of the 5Gradio specification was made in partnership with members of Verizon's 5GTechnology Forum, including CiscoSystems Inc., Ericsson, IntelCorp., LG, NokiaCorp., SamsungElectronics Co. Ltd. and Qualcomm Inc. unit Qualcomm TechnologiesInc.
*Telenor's Myanmar unit launchedits 4G service in the country's capital city of Nay Pyi Taw, Mobile World Livereported July 7. This comes after it tested the high-speed service in fivecities across Myanmar.
*Ericsson partnered with SKTelecom Co. Ltd. and DeutscheTelekom AG to deploya transcontinental 5G trial network in South Korea and Germany, according to aJune 30 news release. The trial network will use several 5G technologies,including Network Functions Virtualization, software-defined infrastructure,distributed cloud and network slicing.
CONTENT, CARRIAGE ANDLICENSING DEALS
*Nokia said July 13 that it expandedits patent cross licensing agreement with Samsung. Both companies will shareaccess to additional patented technologies, details of which were not disclosed. The deal adds to thelicensing agreement reached by Nokia and Samsung in February.
REGULATORY AND LEGAL
*Roaming charges might be reinstatedin the U.K. as a result of the country's decision to leave the EU, BloombergNews reported June 27. Lawyer Kyriakos Fountoukakos said operators such asBritish Telecom andVodafone Group Plccould restore the roaming fees once Brexit is completed, depending on theBritish government's negotiations with the EU. The cessation of mobile roamingfees will take effect June 2017 across the EU and the European Economic Area,which includes Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
OTHER NEWS
*Com Hem's boardgreenlit plans to repurchaseup to 450 million Swedish kronor of its shares, according to a July 12 newsrelease. Under the share buyback program, shares will be repurchased in cashfrom July 13 to Nov. 30. A maximum of 18 million shares may be repurchased, andCom Hem should not own more than 10% of the company's outstanding shares.
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*Alphabet Inc. unitGoogle Inc.struck a deal toacquire the entire power output of the Tellenes wind power farm in Norway for a12-year period, Reuters reported June 30, citing an official statement. Theproject, which will be fully operational in late 2017, is expected to be thelargest wind power farm in Norway.