Sweden’s Telia has sold its 12.25% stake in Afghanistan’s Roshan Telecom to the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development.
The Swedish group revealed in 2016 that it was planning to sell up in Afghanistan, although evidently it had to wait to find the right buyer. The Aga Khan Fund is a majority stakeholder in Roshan Telecom.
Terms of the agreement were not revealed. With this long-anticipated divestment, Telia has fully withdrawn from the market, in line with its strategy to exit the Eurasia region while strengthening its focus on the Baltic and Nordic regions.
Since announcing this strategy in 2015, Telia has divested holdings in a total of seven markets in Eurasia: Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Nepal, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Telia seems to have broadened the strategy’s remit over the years. In June, it reached an agreement to divest its indirect holding in Turkey’s Turkcell.
