Millicom, the telecoms firm that operates the Tigo-branded mobile networks in Asia, Africa and Latin America, has said that a number of potential buyers have expressed interest in acquiring its Asian businesses. “Goldman Sachs has been appointed to advise on the process and, to date, expressions of interest have been received from a number of parties,” the company said in a statement. It did not name the firms it was talking to. The operator had said earlier in the year that it was looking to sell its Asian assets. The assets have been reclassified as ‘assets held for sale’ on its balance sheet from 1 May 2009 and shown as discontinued operations in Millicom’s profit and loss statement since the beginning of the year.

Millicom’s Asian operations and joint-ventures generated a net profit of US$4 million in the first quarter and revenues of US$68 million, the company said in its statement. According to Wireless Intelligence data, Luxembourg-based Millicom runs three networks in Asia, Tigo in Sri Lanka (2.1 million connections in 1Q09) and Laos (255,000), and Cambodia’s Cellcard (2.2 million).