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Uniti Group advised on ‘strategic’ Telstra FTTP acquisition
Lander & Rogers has advised diversified telecommunications provider Uniti Group on a strategic acquisition of Telstra FTTP assets for $140 million.
Emma Musgrave
Firm: Lander & Rogers (Uniti Group Limited)
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Deal: Uniti Group Limited has acquired Telstra-owned Velocity and South Brisbane Exchange fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) assets. An equity raising was also completed to partly fund the acquisition.
Value: $140 million for the total acquisition. The equity raise consisted of a $50 million underwritten institutional placement and $10 million (later upsized to $20 million) share purchase plan for existing shareholders.
Area: Corporate, M&A.
Key players: The team advising Uniti Group Limited was led by Lander & Rogers corporate partner Jackie Solakovski. Lander & Rogers corporate partner Simon Davidson led the raising component.
Deal significance: According to a statement provided by Lander & Rogers, the sale assets from the transaction “constitute Australia’s second-largest private FTTP network, with an estimated 68,000 premises passed, 65,000 FTTP-connected premises and 50,000 active premises”.
“The purchase adds additional scale and national reach to Uniti’s Wholesale and Infrastructure FTTP network, increasing active premises by approximately 40 per cent to over 170,000,” the statement said.
“One of several acquisitions in the past 18 months, the deal forms part of ASX-listed Uniti Group’s strategy to grow its Wholesale and Infrastructure operation, strengthening its position as the second-largest provider of FTTP services in Australia behind NBN Co.”
Commenting further on the matter, Lander & Rogers lead corporate partner Ms Solakovski said, the share purchase plan was well received, noting “it was oversubscribed by over seven times the original plan size, which was particularly pleasing given it was during the traditionally quiet end-of-year holiday period”.
“Uniti’s strategic acquisition of OptiComm halted both parties’ involvement in the Telstra FTTP sale process,” she said.
“When the OptiComm takeover completed, Uniti and Telstra were able to re-engage in relation to the sale of the Telstra assets, resulting in a dash to complete the transaction before Christmas.
“It is a privilege to be part of Uniti Group’s growth journey.”
