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Minter Ellison and Clayton Utz have advised on a major telecommunications sector consolidation newly approved by the Supreme Court of Queensland.
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MINTER Ellison and Clayton Utz have advised on a major telecommunications sector consolidation newly approved by the Supreme Court of Queensland. TPG Telecom has acquired PIPE Networks via a scheme of arrangement for $6.30 per share. The $373 million transaction included an initial placement to TPG Telecom of 2.8 million PIPE shares, issued to TPG in November last year. Minter Ellison acted for TPG Telecom on the deal, which involved the negotiation and finalisation of a $380 million syndicated debt facility package, provided by domestic and offshore lenders and used to fund the acquisition. Minters also advised on the institutional placement and share purchase plan conducted by the client, which raised about $66 million of funds used for the acquisition of PIPE Networks. Clayton Utz, meanwhile, advised PIPE Networks, a telecommunications company owning the third-largest metropolitan fibre optic network in Australia, on the deal. Lead Minter Ellison partner on the deal, Costas Condoleon, worked with senior associate of corporate, Hemang Shah, and lawyer Christopher Jordan. Condoleon said: "This is a significant transaction in our local market and is being heralded as the beginning of a major rationalisation in the mid tier of the telecommunications sector in Australia." "The acquisition is expected to result in substantial cost savings for the TPG. TPG forecasts approximately A$100 million in potential cost savings over four years (commencing late in the 2011 financial) as a result of synergies realised from the acquisition,” Condoleon said.
