The Norwegian government could raise more than €5bn from the sale of its stake in Telenor, the national telecommunications operation that will next month list on the Oslo Stock Exchange.

The Norwegian government said on Wednesday that it would dispose of 25% of its ownership of Telenor, which has been valued by Norwegian brokerage houses at between Nkr90bn (€11.37bn) and Nkr160bn. If Telenor is eventually valued at the top end of this scale, the government could bring in a total of €5.053bn in proceeds.