Singapore Telecommunications (STEL.SI), Southeast Asia’s biggest telecom firm, said on Thursday it had no plans to list its wholly-owned Australian subsidiary, Optus.

Local media have long speculated Singtel may look to float around a quarter of its share in Optus, which might be worth up to A$4 billion ($4.9 billion), to fund expansion in other markets.   

 

“We have no plans currently to look at an IPO of Optus,” Singtel chief executive officer Chua Sock Koong told a media briefing the company. 

 

“As a group we do review our investments on a regular basis, and if it makes sense and is value-accretive to our shareholders we would not be averse to looking at adding to divesting some of our existing investments,” he said. 

 

Earlier the company reported a better-than-expected 6.6% rise in quarterly profits thanks to contributions from its regional associate companies.  

 

Singtel, which has a market value of $34 billion, reported an underlying net profit of $1.02 billion in the fourth quarter, up from $959 million last year and above an average forecast of $987 million by five analysts surveyed by Reuters.