Telenor spins off its Connexion IoT arm into $809m JV

• Investment firm Verdane is taking a 50% stake in Telenor Connexion, which will operate as a standalone joint venture IoT business
• Telenor’s IoT arm manages 31 million connections across more than 200 countries
• Verdane and Telenor have pledged to invest a combined $400m into the venture
• Telenor will bank $409m from the deal 

Telenor is spinning off its internet of things (IoT) business, Connexion, as a 50/50 joint venture with investment firm Verdane in a deal that values the company at 7.5bn Swedish kronor (SEK) ($809m).

Following the transaction, which is expected to be completed this year, Telenor will receive approximately SEK 3.8bn ($409m) in cash, in addition to a seller credit of approximately SEK 800m ($86m).

Connexion manages around 31 million IoT SIM cards across more than 200 countries and, in 2025, generated revenues of SEK 1.3bn ($140m) and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of SEK 415m ($44m).

Also in 2025, Telenor announced plans to consolidate its IoT connectivity across the group under the Connexion tag, paving the way for Verdane to invest in the joint venture. Connexion had previously managed the telco’s international IoT operations, while its Nordic units managed their own domestic portfolios.

Pekka Lundmark, the former president and CEO of Nokia, is to join Telenor Connexion as independent chair once the transaction has closed, while Mats Lundquist will continue as CEO of Telenor Connexion.

“We have bold ambitions in managed IoT and, with Verdane as a partner, we gain additional power to realise them in a much more capital-efficient manner. At the same time, this transaction clearly demonstrates Telenor’s ability to create value,” said Benedicte Schilbred Fasmer, president and CEO of Telenor.

“With this structure in place, we are well positioned for the next phase. Telenor will remain a long‑term, strategic owner and we will continue to put the full industrial strength of the group behind Telenor Connexion. Together with Verdane, we will scale the business more rapidly in a diligent way,” says Fasmer.

Both Verdane and Telenor have also pledged to invest an additional SEK 2bn ($215m) into the joint venture, which will be reported as an associated company with the Telenor Group once the JV has been formed.

The deal will also see Verdane acquire Telenor’s ownership stakes in Telenor Amp’s portfolio companies BLDNG.ai, which specialises in smart building solutions and property technology, and Whereby, a browser-based videoconferencing tool that was developed by Telenor in 2013, before being spun out in 2017. Telenor Amp is the unit of the Nordic telco that manages and scales its strategic investments. 

Bjarne Kveim Lie, founder and managing partner at Verdane, said: “We are grateful to have built a partnership based on mutual trust with Telenor and look forward to working closely together in the years to come. We believe Telenor Connexion is perfectly positioned in a well-established structural growth market that will benefit from the increasing adoption of AI through exposure to connected devices in data-intensive industries”.

- James Pearce, Editor, TelecomTV