Telecom New Zealand (TNZ) is having a busy week at the merger and acquisition table. First up is the sale of the consumer unit of AAPT to Australian ISP iiNet (ASX: IIN.AX) for $60 million.
TNZ said the sale, which still has to clear iiNet shareholder and obligatory regulatory hurdles, will have a $9.1 million net negative impact on AAPT’s FY 2011 EBITDA. A previous move by TNZ to sell off all of AAPT attracted a number of potential suitors, including SingTel Optus, Pacnet and most recently TPG Telecom (ASX: TPM.AX). But the AAPT consumer division deal is not the only deal TNZ is making this week.
The New Zealand incumbent carrier has sold its 18.2 percent stake in iiNet to investors for about $63.7 million and its stake in Australian business communications services provider Macquarie Telecom (ASX: MQG.AX) for $9 million. When combined, TNZ will receive a total of $127 million from its sale of three pieces.
These sales also have benefits for AAPT and iiNet as well. With its consumer division sold off, AAPT will be able to focus its attention on serving both the wholesale and enterprise markets, while iiNet up its total broadband subscriber base to over 652,000 with the addition of 113,000 broadband subscribers and over 251,000 other active services.
For more:
- Telecompaper has this article
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