In a swift turn of events, Superloop overnight rejected Aussie Broadband’s merger proposal calling the proposal “conditional, unsolicited and incomplete indicative and non-binding”.
The board of Superloop said together with its retained financial and legal advisers, considered the offer and believes the proposal is “opportunistic and fundamentally undervalues Superloop”.
Consequently, the Superloop board said it does not intend to engage with ABB on the Indicative Proposal. Superloop shareholders do not need to take any action in relation to the Proposal.
Gizmodo Australia has reached out to Aussie Broadband for a comment.
We will continue to update this story as it unfolds.
Original story below.
It has been an interesting Monday morning in the telco space. NBN broadband provider Aussie Broadband has announced plans to merge with competing provider Superloop.
According to Aussie Broadband, it has submitted a non-binding indicative proposal which will result in the company owning 100 per cent of the issued share capital in Superloop.
In a statement, Aussie Broadband Group managing director Phillip Britt said, “We believe the combination of Aussie Broadband and Superloop will be value accretive for both of our shareholders and importantly, improve our positioning and customer propositions in what is a highly competitive industry.”
Gizmodo Australia has reached out for further comment from Aussie Broadband and Superloop.
Aussie Broadband noted several reasons why this merger could benefit Australians which include, being a “scale player” in Australia providing broadband to more than one million subscribers.
A “growing business segment” with an enhanced product offering and end-to-end capabilities to compete with the incumbents.
A strong wholesale offering which Aussie Broadband said is well positioned for growth through improved scale and investment; and a synergy pool through removal of network cost duplication and other customary cost areas.
Under the Indicative Proposal, Superloop shareholders would receive 0.21 Aussie Broadband shares for each Superloop share held. Based on the last closing price of ABB shares ($4.53 on 23 February 2024) this implies a total value to Superloop shareholders of $0.95 per share.
At this time, Aussie Broadband said its shareholders do not need to take any action about this proposal and it will keep the market informed with further developments.
This is not the first acquisition Aussie Broadband has made as it has recently been approved to buy unified communications-as-a-service provider Symbio for $262 million earlier this month.
Aussie Broadband has made it clear that this proposal will not result in any transaction so watch this space.