The Kuala Lumpur-based company is in talks with potential buyers including Edgepoint Capital Advisors and Edotco Group Sdn Bhd, a telecom infrastructure company, the people said, asking not to be identified as the matter is private.
U Mobile is still pursuing a planned initial public offering (IPO), the people said.
Discussions are at an early stage and the wireless carrier could decide against a sale, they said. Representatives for U Mobile, Edgepoint and Edotco declined to comment.
U Mobile, which has more than seven million subscribers, owns about 1,611 wireless towers in Malaysia. The company was planning to raise about US$500 million in a local IPO, Bloomberg News reported in 2019.
Malaysian mobile service providers are seeking to mobilise resources as they step up spending on 5G. The country is looking to roll out the high-speed network in Kuala Lumpur and its administrative capital of Putrajaya by the end of this year, before expanding nationwide by 2023.
U Mobile’s shareholders include Singapore’s Straits Mobile Investments Pte Ltd and Malaysian tycoon Vincent Tan.