April 3 Reuters Singapore Telecommunications Singtel , Southeast Asia39;s largest telecom operator, reiterated on Wednesday that there was no impending deal to divest its Australian telecom unit Optus.

Singtel, majority owned by Singapore sovereign investor Temasek, in March denied an AFR, report that it was offloading Optus to Canada39;s Brookfield for up to 12 billion.

Reuters had reported that the company was in advanced talks over a significant stake sale to Brookfield, citing a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

Shares of Singtel were down 3.15 at S2.46 on Wednesday before trading was halted pending an announcement.

The halt was placed after multiple reports said talks had ended for Singtel to divest a 20 stake in Optus as the parties were unable to agree on certain terms involving the valuation and price aspect of the possible transaction.

Singtel39;s Singaporean operations and Optus account for half of its business, according to its annual report. The rest is made up of minority stakes in several telecom operators including India39;s Bharti Airtel, Indonesia39;s Telkomsel and the Philippines39; Globe Telecom.

The group would like to advise shareholders of Singtel and potential investors to exercise caution in their review of any media reports relating to Optus in the absence of any definitive announcements when dealing with the shares of the company, Singtel said in a statement.

In November, Optus drew public ire after a 12hour network blackout…