Axiata Group and Telenor Asia today confirmed in their press conference that they have revived merger plans of Celcom and Digi which is currently in advanced discussion stages.

Compared to the previous merger talks which involve assets from other countries the current discussion is limited to their Malaysian assets.

This story comes as Telenor divested their stake in their remittance business Valyou to Merchantrade.

Each party will have equal ownership of estimated 33.1 % each. Axiata together with Malaysian institutional funds will own over 51% of the merged entity. The new entity will be named Celcom Digi Berhad and will continue to be listed on Bursa Malaysia.

Combined the new entity will have an estimated 19 million customers. Both parties will work towards finalizing the agreement by second quarter of 2021.

While it’s still too premature to anticipate the potential impact of this merger on Axiata’s fintech business which include Boost and Aspirasi, Dato’ Izzadin Idris, Group CEO, Axiata said that the combined 19 million customers could potentially be an advantage.

When asked about whether this could potentially impact their digital banking bid, he said that the digital banking opportunity is something that’s pursued separately and that Axiata is looking forward to announcing the partners involved with the for the digital banking license bid.

The deal is subject to approval from shareholders, regulators and other customary terms and conditions. While there is no certainty that the deal will go through, both parties are optimistic about the outcome.