Telenor is seeking local partners for Thai Telco Holdings, which is a part owner of United Communication Industry Plc, a source close to Ucom shareholders said last week.

"The potential buyers can be local financial institutions or [other] serious investors," the source said.

The Norwegian telecom giant hopes that a new local shareholders would make Ucom safe from the controversy surrounding foreign nominees.

Thai Telco is among 13 companies under investigation by a Commerce Ministry committee for possibly violating the foreign business law by acting as nominees for foreign investors.

The probe started with Kularb Kaew, Cedar Holdings, Aspen Holdings and Cypress Holdings, all of which were directly or indirectly involved in the takeover of Shin Corp in January by Singapore's Temasek Holdings.

The government decided to expand the investigation because it came under public pressure to treat all companies with questionable ownership fairly.

In the year 2000, Telenor bought 24.8 per cent of Ucom and 30 per cent of DTAC through its subsidiary Telenor Asia. DTAC has been the main rival to AIS, the leader in the cellular market.

Last October, Telenor increased its stake in its local partnerships in a complex series of transactions that saw Thai Telco Holdings, Telenor Asia's 49-per-cent-owned affiliate, buying 39.9 per cent of Ucom in a deal worth Bt9.2 billion.

Thai Telco now owns 42.4 per cent of Ucom, while Telenor Asia holds 47 per cent. Ucom owns 43.1 per cent of DTAC, while Telenor Asia owns 32.6 per cent.

The foreign business and telecom laws cap foreign shareholdings in telecoms at 49 per cent. A company defined as a nominee for foreign interests could face a fine or imprisonment.

DTAC chief executive Sigve Brekke said the Singapore-listed telecom would list on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) in the middle of next year as part of its dual-listing plan.

DTAC plans to float 44.4 million shares in a public offering, of which 16.4 million new shares will come from DTAC and 28 million shares from Ucom. After that Ucom will be delisted from the SET.

Ucom reported to the SET that the 28 million common shares were equivalent to 6.11 per cent of DTAC's total shares and are worth about Bt4.2 billion.

Usanee Mongkolporn

The Nation