France Telecom to acquire TeliaSonera?

France Telecom is reportedly in talks to acquire Nordic operator TeliaSonera. In a recent conference call with journalists, France Telecom’s Finance Director Gervais Pellissier described the deal as “a strategic opportunity” and one that could be made through a combined cash and share offer. However, the company gave no timeframes for when a deal could be completed and warned the acquisition could mean it misses its debt target for the year.

TeliaSonera has a market value of around US$38 billion and is partly owned by the Swedish and Finish governments, which have 37% and 13.7% stakes in the mobile operator.

[Via: MarketWatch]