Telenor ASA (OSL:TEL)
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M&A announcement

Apr 9, 2019

Jørgen C. Arentz Rostrup
CFO, Telenor

Good morning, good morning, everybody. This is Jørgen C. Rostrup, CFO of Telenor speaking. Let me do a couple of practicalities first. We aim at having a Q&A after my presentation or introduction. If you have a question you want to ask, then you are supposed to press star one, the sign star, and the number one, star one. And I will try to remind you to turn pages in the presentation that we have put out, and I have people around me who will remind me of that as well, so hopefully that will go fine.

Let's shoot straight at slide three. While I'm saying that, I'm of course very excited today to announce that we have acquired a majority stake of 54% in the Finnish telecom operator DNA. I have a few people with me in the room at Fornebu, Oslo, today. Haakon Hatlevik is here from Investor Relations. Otto Risbakk, the head of our M&A department, is here. Tommy Kristensen from Corporate Communications, and also Alex Evans from Barclays Bank, our advisor, is in the room. As you all know, we set out on a strategic direction back at Capital Markets Day in February 2017, and since then, our main priority has been simply to deliver on what we promised at that point in time.

I believe strong effort across the organization has resulted in significant OpEx reductions, as well as improved CapEx efficiency, through the procurement company that we established back then. In addition, we have simplified the portfolio, as we said we would do, by exiting India and Central Eastern Europe, our online classified assets in Latin America, and a few other smaller things. For us, the result of all this is that we have created a leaner, simpler, and more efficient Telenor, with the ability to maintain an attractive shareholder remuneration policy. On top of this increasing dividend per share every year policy, we have been able to have one extraordinary dividend payout, as well as three consecutive years of share buybacks. The third year is 2019.

We will continue with the announced 3% share buyback program this year, regardless of the announced transaction today. Therefore, of course, we see today's transaction as another step towards executing on the strategy. We have also, by the restructuring we've done, created room for selective and disciplined M&A, and we believe that this, all in all, is modernizing and creating value within core telecom in Nordics and Asia for Telenor. If we turn to page 4, I would like to say that today's transaction will give Telenor a 54% stake in DNA at 20.9 EUR per share, resulting in a total consideration of approximately EUR 1.5 billion or slightly above NOK 14 billion.

It is at a moderate premium of 21% compared to the last 90 days volume-weighted average trading price, or 7% compared to the closing price of yesterday. Based on consensus estimates for 2019 and the transaction price, the implied enterprise value to EBITDA multiple is around 11, and the enterprise value to operational cash flow multiple at 20.9. If you take a cost, estimated yearly OpEx and CapEx synergies of approximately EUR 20 million, EUR 20 million a year, the implied EV to EBIT, EBITDA multiple for the transaction price is 10.7, and EV to operational cash flow is 18.5.

The impact on net debt to EBITDA will be 0.4 times and will give Telenor a new pro forma leverage of, approximately, at the end of 2018, at approximately 1.3 times. From the transaction date onward, this acquisition will be cash accretive and support our dividend policy. As for the conditions of the transaction, the acquisition is subject to, approval by the general meetings in both, Finda and PHP. Their board of directors have already unanimously, recommended the agreements, and they will call for shareholder meetings to approve, this transaction. Certain important shareholders has also agreed to irrevocable undertakings in support of the transaction.... Following approval from, Finda and PHP, there will be a review and approval process, which is, normal in these kind of circumstances with customary and regulatory authorities.

The acquisition will trigger a mandatory tender offer for the remaining shares following the approval processes.

Speaker 11

Just a second, guys. We might have a technical problem, and let's check.

Operator, are we getting some questions from people that are not able to dial in? Do we have, how many do, or do we have a lot of people on the call?

Operator

Yes, we have a few questions, actually, some people queuing up. Do you wanna take the questions?

Jørgen C. Arentz Rostrup
CFO, Telenor

No, no. We are getting message that there are people who wants to be on the call, who are not able to get on the call. So the question is, do we have a good number of people joining the call, so the call works as anticipated?

Operator

Yes, there is, because there is about 200 old people inside.

Jørgen C. Arentz Rostrup
CFO, Telenor

Okay, very good. Good. Then, everybody, we continue, and I'm glad there are so many callers on the conference. Let's move over to page five. The evaluations we have done prior to this transaction, which also have been important for our decision, of course, are, first of all, we believe this is a very good fit for Telenor. We also believe it is a good fit for DNA, but, but for us, first and foremost, it's a good fit for Telenor, which will consolidate, further consolidate our Nordic portfolio. This is in an attractive and growing market. And thirdly, DNA is a quality asset that we have followed some time with strong track record.

Lastly, the transaction will be value accretive transaction for Telenor from day one, both synergy and growth opportunities in the transaction. Let me comment a little bit further on these one by one. If you turn to page six. When we now are acquiring a controlling stake in DNA, Telenor will consolidate its Nordic position across mobile and fixed, and balance the portfolio in total between Nordics and Asia. We see this as another step towards executing on Telenor's strategic agenda, focusing on modernization and value creation with core within core telecom in those two large regions.

From the transaction date, DNA will be fully consolidated in the Telenor Group figures, resulting in approximately NOK 9 billion or 8% higher pro forma 2018 revenues, and close to NOK 3 billion or 6% higher EBITDA. Turning to slide 7, we see Finland as an attractive, adjacent Nordic market, which will complement our existing Nordic footprint very nicely. In recent years, Finland has been the fastest growing mobile market in Europe, driven by migration of customers from 3G to 4G services. Also, as price points in this market has been speed-based rather than data buckets. This is a different pricing model compared to what we are used to in the other Nordic markets, and it has been enabled by ample spectrum made available to the operators over many years.

The mobile market in Finland has three players, where DNA has a very robust number 3 position with 28% market share. DNA's market share has been steadily increasing over the last years, and is now getting closer to the number 2 operator. The more for more strategy that has been adopted in this market has led to solid ARPU development in recent years, with further potential, we believe, to migrate customers over to price plans with higher speed. Turning to slide 8, I would like to stress that DNA is a strong, integrated challenger in Finland, with a solid market position across mobile, fixed, and cable TV. We believe DNA is a very good strategic fit to our ambitions in Telenor, focusing on modernization and value creation with a core telecom in the Nordics and Asia.

The way we see it, DNA aim for industry-leading financial development, aiming for faster than average market growth, and they have focus on speed and cost efficiency, effectiveness. Very much like our own agenda around growth, revenue renewal, and efficiency. In addition, they also share our values regarding people and organization. We have the winning teams theme of Telenor, and DNA clearly states they have the ambition of being a great place to work, and they are among the most desired employers in Finland, and also with focus on having top expert teams in core functional areas. Very much the same as Telenor is striving for. Within mobile, DNA has the number three position, but has steadily been growing their subscriber base and has now reached 2.9 million subscribers. The subscriber base consists of around 80% B2C and 20% B2B customers.

In such a way, you can say that the B2B position is significantly lower than their market share would suggest, and this is an area we see opportunities by leveraging on Telenor's capabilities. Within broadband, DNA has the number two position. Subscriber base has steadily been increasing the last year and is now almost 500,000 subscribers. Their high-speed coax coverage is currently reaching slightly more than 30% of the Finnish households. And then though it is a smaller part of the total business, revenues around EUR 18 million to 18 numbers of the total of EUR 912 million euro revenues, DNA has the number one position on cable TV with around 85% household coverage. Moving to slide 9.

In recent years, DNA has delivered strong mobile service revenue growth, 9% in 2017, and similar numbers, 8% in 2018. This have been achieved through a combination of best-in-class network infrastructure, competitive price offerings, and high customer satisfaction. Fixed is a more nuanced picture due to significant growth in mobile broadband, and also as in other Nordic countries, declining fixed voice. In combination with their cost-effectiveness ambition, they have improved the EBITDA margin by three percentage points over the last two years. They have maintained CapEx at reasonable levels while improving 4G capacity, whereby seeing significant improvements in operating cash flow. A strong spectrum portfolio, fully invested 4G network, makes DNA's network the fastest network in Finland, supporting what we believe is a solid value proposition and customer experience.

If we all go to slide 10, as I have already been alluding to, DNA has had a strong market performance for several years, steadily increasing their market shares year by year and improving a net promoter score, the NPS. With their capabilities, we believe there is still growth to capture and opportunities to further improve their position. For the B2C customers, there's still a significant part of the base in Finland which has not yet transitioned to 4G services. This transition usually gives an ARPU uplift of a couple of EUR, and will continue to support the growth going forward. However, then, if you see the graphs on the right-hand side, this is where we believe there is a significant opportunity to leverage on the strong B2B capabilities that we have in Telenor, and not at least in Telenor Norway.

In Norway, we are constantly becoming more and more advanced in our service offerings in this segment, as customized services and solutions are increasingly something large contracts expect when we are in negotiations. We believe the advanced capabilities we have in Norway on these type of contracts will be a strong lever for DNA, which can enable further growth. On page 11, we talk about this being a value accretive transaction for Telenor. From the first day after the transaction, we believe this will be value accretive for the group. The EPS will increase by around 4% on a pro forma basis, and with a 54% stake, or even higher with additional shares after the mandatory tender offer. It will also hence support our dividend policy.

We estimate that Telenor's scale and capability, capabilities will give cost synergies, OpEx and CapEx of around 200 million NOK in the yearly run rate, primarily through procurement and roaming efficiencies. In addition, as mentioned on the previous slide, we believe there is a potential to leverage Telenor's advanced B2B capabilities to enable further growth opportunities. The acquisition price, as I said, represent what we believe is a moderate premium of 21% compared to the VWAP the last 90 days, or 7% to the closing price yesterday. We believe on one side, this gives the seller a full and fair price, and on the other side, allowing Telenor to benefit from longer term synergies and growth opportunities. So then on page 12, what will happen next?

The board of directors in both selling companies have unanimously recommended the agreement and have summoned for shareholder meetings to be held on May sixth. After approval by the EGMs in these two companies, we will then go through review and approval processes as normal is. We expect the agreement to be completed during third quarter, 2019. Once completed, it will trigger a mandatory offer for the remaining shares in the company. Telenor intends, should the minority shareholders prefer so, to keep DNA as a listed company on the Helsinki Stock Exchange. To summarize, the transaction will result in Telenor taking a controlling stake of 54% in the listed Finnish operator DNA. This transaction consolidates our position in the Nordics.

We see it as another step in executing on our strategic agenda, focusing on monetization as well as value creation within core telco in the Nordics and Asia, while making sure we continue to deliver on the company's priorities and the shareholder remuneration policy. DNA, we see it as a quality asset in an attractive and growing market, where we believe we can both create synergies from leveraging Telenor's scale in procurement and roaming, but also support the company to develop their B2B capabilities to enable further growth. For Telenor, as I said, this will be accretive to both net income and free cash flow from transaction date. Before the mandatory offer, this transaction will increase net debt to EBITDA about 0.3, giving pro forma 2018 numbers of 1.3 times.

That was my comments, and I will open up for Q&As, moderator. Okay, are there any questions?

Operator

Hi, there is a few questions on the line. Do you would like to take the questions?

Jørgen C. Arentz Rostrup
CFO, Telenor

Yes. Yes, please go ahead.

Operator

All right. Right. So I'll take the first question from Terence Tsui, from Morgan Stanley. The line is open, please go ahead.

Terence Tsui
VP and Equity Analyst, Morgan Stanley

Thank you. Hi, everyone. Good morning. It's Terence here from Morgan Stanley. I had a couple of questions. So first of all, why now? Just give us an idea of, you know, why you're taking the decision today or, or, or fairly recently to, to make this acquisition. And related to that, are you worried that maybe Finland, in the mobile market, is showing signs of potentially slowing down a little bit? DNA's revenue growth last year was very strong. It's probably unlikely to be as strong in 2019. And then secondly, I had a question around, around your thoughts around convergence in Scandinavia. Obviously, fixed to mobile convergence is quite important for you in, in, in Norway and . How do you feel about it in, in Finland?

I'm just wondering whether having a collateral network that only covers 30% of households is sufficient for the future? Thank you.

Jørgen C. Arentz Rostrup
CFO, Telenor

Yeah, thanks a lot. Let me just, before I answer those questions, say that on the summary slide, it says Net Debt to EBITDA increasing by 0.4 to 1.3x. It's supposed to be 1.4x.

Terence Tsui
VP and Equity Analyst, Morgan Stanley

So it's 0.4-

Jørgen C. Arentz Rostrup
CFO, Telenor

0.4-1.3.

Terence Tsui
VP and Equity Analyst, Morgan Stanley

Yeah.

Jørgen C. Arentz Rostrup
CFO, Telenor

Oh, sorry. Sorry. The slide is correct. What I said was wrong. 0.4-1.3, the slide is correct. Sorry about that. Well, Terence, why, why do we do it now? We, we have followed the case for some time, and this has been, been a, a good time for us to do it, and, and probably you have to ask them, a good time for, for the sellers to do it. We, we have, carried out a lot of other things in our strategy announced in 2017, and, we felt this was a, a good time to, to see if we could consolidate, Nordics. And then the, it takes two to tango, so I guess that's why now.

We are not particularly nervous about about the market in 2019. We see, as I said in the presentation, that there is still a significant opportunity to migrate people from 3G to 4G, and as we all know, further on, also to 5G. It allows us to see also the 5G development holistically in the Nordic countries. And we believe Finland, with its capabilities, its high data use, record high data use, will be also a good a good market and a good place to gradually develop the 5G position. Convergence, yes, there might be a convergence play taking place in some markets, including some markets in Scandinavia, Nordics.

We are well positioned in general to play a convergent play. We are refining that further by several actions in Norway now, also sunsetting old technology, and thereby indirectly move customers to a convergent play. We don't see Finland necessarily developing the same way. It has a very strong mobile position, strong networks, handling significant data volumes today. And we predominantly see it as a mobile market. Next question.

Operator

Thank you, Terence. I'll just take the next question from Peter Nielsen from ABG. The line is open, please go ahead.

Peter Nielsen
Equity Research Analyst, ABG

Thank you very much. Just a couple of questions, please, Jørgen. Can you give us any further insight on what's been the driving factor behind this process? It sounds a bit like perhaps it's been the selling shareholders that have approached you. I don't know if there's anything you can add to that. Also, by the sound of things, you haven't had any direct contact with the DNA board. Is that correctly understood? And also, just lastly, Jørgen, you talk about perhaps an increased commitment to the Nordic region post the exit from your European operations and the focus on Asia and the Nordics. Is that also to be read, Jørgen, implicitly as a commitment to the Danish market, given that you now obviously target to be pan-Nordic? Thank you very much.

Jørgen C. Arentz Rostrup
CFO, Telenor

Thanks a lot. So let me first comment on the process with the selling parties and with DNA. We have not had any contacts with the DNA prior to, prior to the deal announced, simply because this has not been a deal with DNA; it's been a deal with two selling parties. And we have tried to be structured and handle that in a good way. I would still say that we regard this as a friendly acquisition and a friendly—I hesitate to use the word takeover, but acquiring 54%. We are replacing two financial investors, and we will have one ambition only, and that is to continue to develop DNA to the best for DNA and for Telenor, and for minority shareholders.

We are obviously coming with an MTO. We will pick up all the shares that the minority shareholders want to offer us, and we will respect all those shareholders that will remain in the company. Remember that we have fairly successfully, I believe, already today in the portfolio three companies which are listed, and which we are daily balancing with being involved in operations on one hand, and obviously respecting the minority shareholders the way we should as a listed company. I don't want to go more in detail about the dialogues and who started and who came in second and third, et cetera, with the sellers. It's been obviously a dialogue that has taken some time, and it's been a fruitful and a good good dialogue. Then you asked about Denmark, I guess.

This is maintaining and confirming the strategy we have had since 2017. Included in that strategy is to run every country, including Denmark, in a good, efficient, and developing way. I'm very pleased and impressed to see the improvements made by management in Denmark, now reaching cash flow generation around NOK 500 million, which is kind of an ambition we had. I wouldn't call it target, but ambition we had. From that point of view, we like Denmark and Telenor Denmark very much in our portfolio. This is not changing anything in that respect.

Let me also finally say that, having this somewhat pragmatic, and what we regard as a friendly but also value-creating, approach to the company, includes also giving DNA management a continued strong hand over their business. Telenor is very impressed by the DNA management. They have created fantastic values, and they seem to be very, very capable. And we will just make sure we are supporting them going forward in the best way possible. Thank you.

Peter Nielsen
Equity Research Analyst, ABG

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you, Peter. We'll take the next question from Nick Lyall from Societe Generale .

Speaker 10

Yeah, morning, everybody. It's Nick from Soc Gen. Could I just ask two, please, Jørgen? Firstly, just on the structure, it's a little bit strange in a sense. Could you just describe whether not having 100% would restrict you from doing anything. What would you gain by reaching 100% in terms of process, if anything, please? And secondly, on the B2B side, that sounds like it's not included in the NOK 200 million of synergies. So could you maybe just discuss a little bit what you might be able to do with some of your Norwegian or Swedish products, for example, and what might be the potential for synergies, for revenue synergies there as well? Thanks very much.

Jørgen C. Arentz Rostrup
CFO, Telenor

Thanks. Thanks, Nick, for those questions. So first of all, there is nothing mysterious about our approach to what position we will hold. It was important for us to get more than 50% of the company. After that, we will take what we get in the further process in a very calm and relaxed way. We think this is a full and fair price of the company. We also think that we, in this way, are creating from the shareholders, the existing shareholders of DNA's point of view, a unique exit opportunity, while we, at the same time, are securing the company as, hopefully, a strong and highly committed new owner to further develop the company.

So on one side, it's a full and fair price. It's a good exit opportunity. At the same time, it should allow Telenor, as I said in my presentation, to benefit from long-term synergies and growth opportunities. If we are getting towards 100, we will, of course, eventually, consolidate it fully and run it from there. If we get a smaller position, so we will run this as we are running all listed companies, but basically, which is in our DNA in general, namely, to run it with strong local management team, with a lot of power and influence on how they run business, based on a set of agreed principles and good execution. Then to the B2B, so I believe that...

I will not give you any numbers, okay? You are right. We have not included this in the synergy numbers that we indicated. And this is, of course, a topic which we really will enjoy talking much closer to DNA management about, and first of all, hear their views on it and how they want to run it. And if you just see on some of the slides that I showed you, you will see there is an imbalance between the position in B2B and B2C, and there is also a much smaller DNA position to the competitors in the B2B market. We think we have a very interesting product suite in the B2B space.

We think this is one of our, at least, Scandinavia core competencies. And we believe DNA should, over time, be able to gain a fair share of this market. But remember also then, that the DNA has probably, and I'm eager to hear their comments on that when and if we get there, they have started as a consumer champion really fighting and delivering excellent services to the B2C market. So maybe we can offer them a supporting hand to a transition into also a stronger B2B position. Thank you.

Speaker 10

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you, Nick. Now we'll go to Ulrik Rasmussen from Jefferies. Your line's open.

Speaker 9

Yeah, thank you. It's Ulrik at Jefferies. I have two questions particular. The first one would be, just from the outside, and beyond this, the statements you're making on B2B, where would you see room to change the operating strategy of DNA at this point? And the second question I have is, the synergy potential you're highlighting at the cost level are relatively limited, and you're buying an asset for 19x cash flow, and highlighting the strategic agenda.

So I suppose, you know, one fair question would be, to what extent you could realize these relatively limited synergies through partnerships instead, through a partnership with DNA, for example, rather than sort of putting the cash up and taking control at a relatively what looks like a relatively full valuation. I'd be interested in your view on that. Thank you.

Jørgen C. Arentz Rostrup
CFO, Telenor

Yeah. So I do not plan to go further into our views and plans on how we want to what kind of starting point we have on operational agenda and the way they are running the company. As I said, we believe they are running a very interesting company in a good market, and we will start that dialogue with the DNA based on our total set of analysis when time is ready for that. And I also think it's fair that the DNA management, the DNA board, are the first to participate in that conversation and not hear it over a conference call today.

But we are looking forward to that discussion, and we also think that they can actually add to Telenor way of operating. So it hopefully will be a good mutual exchange. Then on the synergies. Yes, it's a moderate set of synergies that we have pointed to. We haven't brought in B2B synergies in the numbers. I have explained why. You could probably achieve a little bit of roaming synergies to a certain extent in a general you know agreement kind of environment. It often shows that it is hard to do so. And the OpEx, CapEx procurement synergies, which we have also been conservative on, we could not achieve them in a different setup.

As I said, we believe that this is a fully priced deal, but a fairly priced deal, allowing us to benefit from longer-term synergies from the further technological and commercial development in Finland, as well as in the Nordics in general, and also including some growth opportunities. Thank you.

Operator

Next question. Thank you for that. I will take the next question from Johanna Ahlqvist from SEB. The line is open, please go ahead.

Johanna Ahlqvist
Equity Research Analyst, SEB

Yes, hello. Johanna Ahlqvist from SEB. Two quick questions, if I may. I was wondering now that you have sort of a pan-Nordic footprint, does this create a new opportunity on the content side for you? If you can share sort of the content strategy going forward. And the second question relates to the dividend. I know you have a dividend policy, that it should grow year-over-year, but given that this is cash flow accretive, should we sort of see a new base going forward? Is that an opportunity, or how do you view your dividend going forward? Thank you.

Jørgen C. Arentz Rostrup
CFO, Telenor

Thanks for those questions. On the content side, this is not changing our position on content. We don't see us as a big acquirer of content, of owning content, or developing our own content. And DNA is not there either. We have found it hard to create value from those kind of exercises. It appears others are struggling as well, so we are not changing the strategy on that side. When it comes to dividend, the base will be the same. That is the previous year dividend per share, which is the base, and it will remain the same.

We have announced that there will be an uptick also for 2019, according to our policy, and we believe that the policy will continue going forward. So it will be the same. We are also, as I said, maintaining the 3% buyback program, hopefully supported by the AGM, so that we can get that started and continuing it the way we have done the two previous programs the two last years.

Johanna Ahlqvist
Equity Research Analyst, SEB

Thank you.

Jørgen C. Arentz Rostrup
CFO, Telenor

Thank you. I believe we have a couple of more minutes, so let's see if we can fit in two or three questions.

Operator

All right. No worries. We'll take the next question from Andrew Lee from Goldman Sachs. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Andrew Lee
Director, Goldman Sachs

Yeah. Good morning. Thanks for taking the question. Hi, Jørgen. I just had a question on trying to gauge the balance of what's gonna drive your growth plans between market growth and price take, as you highlighted on the call, as well as the... Well, comparing that to share take. So as you laid out, Finland's consistently been a rational growth market, despite great competition in the last few quarters, and partly, part of that competition has come from DNA promotions. And we'd note that Telenor is typically pretty rational in its existing Nordic market. So I wonder if you could just maybe give us a bit more color on how you see your route to growth in Finland, comparing the upselling and pricing rationality versus the share take opportunity.

Are we right to assume that you're more focused on share take in B2B than you are on B2C? Thank you.

Jørgen C. Arentz Rostrup
CFO, Telenor

Yeah. To the latter first, Andrew. We are obviously focusing on developing the market shares in a good way, regardless of whether it's B2B or B2C. We just believe, before we had talked to the DNA management, that there should be a more obvious opportunity to take some steps over the next couple of years in the B2B area. And then I'm hesitating to comment very much on your first question. I think we will... No, I really hesitate to answer that, because it becomes complex, and I think that is a question for DNA in the future and for Telenor, hopefully as a shareholder, large shareholder of DNA, to comment on that in the future.

But we typically try to develop good proposal, good products, good offerings, and get a fair price in the market for those. I think I'll refrain from commenting anything more on it.

Andrew Lee
Director, Goldman Sachs

Okay. Thank you.

Jørgen C. Arentz Rostrup
CFO, Telenor

Thanks, Andrew.

Operator

... Thank you for that. We'll take the next question from Roman Arbuzov from JP Morgan. Please go ahead.

Speaker 8

Good morning. Thank you very much for the opportunity to ask questions. My first one is just on the efficiency agenda, which you're running across the group. Have you had time to apply that agenda in the sense of quantifying upside to DNA? And have you had a chance to do maybe a mini benchmarking exercise just to understand how you can use the know-how and the knowledge on the efficiency front that you've developed within the group over the last couple of years, how that can be applied to DNA, and what sort of value can you create out of that beyond the procurement and the roaming synergies that you've mentioned? And just a small one, I was wondering if you could actually quantify the roaming synergies.

And then, the third one, quickly, would be on just probing deeper into the operational strategy. I appreciate the 30 days, but maybe you could give us a sense of whether you would want to refocus the company more on efficiency and away from growth. It’s not that you’ll be, you know, forgoing growth. Telenor is clearly a growth-focused company, but efficiency has been dominating the agenda of the group for the last couple of years. So will this, do you think, apply to DNA also in a stronger sense compared to the way they’ve been running the company previously, do you think? Thank you.

Jørgen C. Arentz Rostrup
CFO, Telenor

Thanks, Roman. Apologize for being a little bit on the mountain tops here again. But first of all, I do not like to quantify the roaming synergies as such. We have indicated a level for the combined set of synergies. I think that is as far as we should go now. We are very comfortable with those numbers, and that is where I would like to keep it. Then, on the efficiency for the group and taking that to Finland, we have obviously done some calculations and looked into this and tried to see it from different angles. But again, first of all, we see DNA as a good performer and a well-run company. So that is our starting point.

Then we believe that our scale can add some synergies. We believe that our competence hopefully can be to some support. We believe that they can learn us, teach us a few things. And then we will see where we take the efficiency work and going forward. We are quite pleased with how we have advanced our own efficiency work from the early months and the first year of 2017.

The outcome of that, with reduction of 3.5% and 3% for 2017 and 2018 on the total cost base of Telenor, we still believe that we haven't prevented or blocked local revenue renewal or growth opportunities by this, but we have focused the group a lot more, which was needed and which is also beneficial. To the extent that we can do the same because there is an opportunity to do the same, we will of course use our experience together with DNA's experience to handle that going forward. But this will have to happen in dialogue with and with deeper understanding of the DNA situation and what management see of opportunities. We will definitely continue to develop a growth to support a growth agenda for DNA.

As I've said, we believe it is a very interesting Finnish market, and we think it will remain very interesting going forward.

Speaker 8

Thank you very much. Thank you.

Jørgen C. Arentz Rostrup
CFO, Telenor

I think we can do one more question, and then we have to close down.

Operator

All right. No worries. We'll take the last question from Rik Hardeman from Nordea Credit Research. The line is open. Please go ahead.

Rik Hardeman
Senior Credit Analyst, Nordea Credit Research

Hi, Rik Hardeman here, Nordea Credit Research. One question around your funding. In reference to the press release, you mentioned that the transaction will be funded by existing credit facilities and cash. Is that also true for a 100% outcome from the Telenor offer?

Jørgen C. Arentz Rostrup
CFO, Telenor

Yes, I would say as a base, it's uncommitted credit facilities and cash, and we are also very confident that a well-rated issuer as Telenor will benefit from strong financial debt market and handle this situation wherever the numbers should end. So, but predominantly from our own resources already established, including uncommitted credit facilities.

Rik Hardeman
Senior Credit Analyst, Nordea Credit Research

Okay. Thank you.

Jørgen C. Arentz Rostrup
CFO, Telenor

Okay. I'd like to thank you all for joining in. It's highly appreciated that you take the time. Haakon in investor relations will obviously be available one at a time for the next 48 hours on a consecutive basis. So feel free to get in touch with him. And I also looking forward to follow up this at first quarter discussions and the roadshow that we are having at that time. So thank you, and have a very nice day.

Operator

That concludes today's conference. Thank you all for your participation.

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