ROYAL Group’s November buyout of Millicom International’s majority stake in mobile phone market leader Mobitel has won “Asia deal of the year” for 2009 in Telecom Finance magazine. The deal, worth US$346 million that included a $421 million financing package for the 58.4 percent stake, was advised by Cambodia Capital and Goldman Sachs, and arranged by Standard Bank and ANZ Bank in a move that saw Royal Group take complete control of the mobile firm. “This was truly a trailblazing deal…. [That] could potentially mark the beginning of a new dawn in Indochina,” the judging panel was quoted as saying.