STOCKHOLM, Sweden-TeliaSonera announced that as of Feb. 5 holders of Sonera shares, including American Despository Shares, representing 4.4 percent of the shares and votes in Sonera have accepted TeliaSonera’s mandatory redemption offer for the remaining shares.
Following completion of the mandatory redemption offer, which expired at the end of January, TeliaSonera’s total holding of securities in Sonera is about 99.4 percent of the shares and votes in Sonera.
In addition, Standard & Poor’s said the credit rating following the merger between the Swedish and Finnish companies is “A.” Telia’s former credit rating was “A+,” while Sonera’s credit rating was “BBB.”
“Overall, we do not expect the Standard & Poor’s action to have any significant cost impact on TeliaSonera AB’s debt financing,” said Kim Ignatius, chief financial offer of TeliaSonera.
