Telenor to consolidate company structure

Press release
Fornebu
3 minute read
Telenor continues to co-ordinate the company's legal and operational structure. Business in the holding company Telenor ASA has been divided into three areas: core activities, related activities and other activities. The business areas defined as core activity will be organised as holding companies for their respective subsidiaries. The legal structure will thus correspond with the structure already familiar to the public. A number of merger and demerger announcements have therefore formally been filed with the registry at Brønnøysund in Norway. The notifications will also be published in print (Norsk Lysningsblad).

The background for these structural changes are given in the Parliamentary proposition, "St.prp. no. 66 concerning Telenor (1999 - 2000, p. 33)". Telenor's operational structure has for some time been at odds with its legal structure, in such a way that some companies in the group have been legally owned by, and been reported by, companies in a different business area than the one in which they operationally belong. Telenor has simultaneously made efforts to create a more flexible and efficient organisational structure. The holding company Telenor ASA was established as part of this process previous to the IPO in December 2000.

A number of new companies are being established as part of the process to consolidate the organisational structure. In several of these companies activities will be discontinued as part of the restructuring process. "This may appear somewhat confusing at times, as this is a thorough process that will necessarily take some time. We need to both merge and demerge companies, shares must be transferred in the appropriate manner, and both customers and financial partners must at all times have one proper legal entity to approach. The end result, however, will be a tidier and more flexible organisation," said CEO, Tormod Hermansen.

The core activity will be organised under four holding companies: Telenor Mobile Holding AS, Telenor Plus Holding AS, Telenor Business Solutions Holding AS and Telenor Networks Holding AS. Related activity will also be organised within isolated holding companies. A company such as Telenor Eiendom Holding AS will belong to the area "other activities".

The new company structure will legally be efficient from March 15, 2002. The Telenor Group will, however, report accounts in accordance with the new structural model already from the fourth quarter 2001.