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Aussie Broadband has entered into an agreement to sell off the last of its shares in Superloop months after it attempted to acquire the internet provider for a gain on sale of $42.7 million.
In an announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), Aussie said it would sell an equivalent to approximately 12 per cent of issued capital at a sales price of $1.66 per share.
This, it claimed, will generate gross pre-tax proceeds of $99.8 million in addition to the gain on sale of $42.7 million.
In February, Aussie submitted a non-binding proposal to acquire all of Superloop’s shares in an implied total value of close to $467 million. Later that day, Superloop rejected the proposal.
At the same time as its proposal, Aussie also acquired 19.9 per cent of Superloop’s shares. This however ran afoul of the internet provider’s constitution, which doesn’t allow any individual or collective to own more than 12 per cent of shares on offer without first receiving permission from Singapore’s Info-communications Media Development Authority (IMDA), which Aussie did not.
Then, on 19 March, Aussie launched a federal court case to restrain Superloop from forcing it to reduce the number of shares it owned down to 11.9 per cent.
Despite this, it entered into an agreement in April to sell off the excess shares for $1.31 per share, coming to $49.3 million in total, to reach the 11.9 per cent mark.
In addition to selling off the rest of its Superloop shares, Aussie also outlined its current goals – none of which explicitly include another attempt at acquiring the internet provider.
“Aussie intends to focus on the growth of Buddy Telco, the integration and growth of Symbio and further investment in Aussie Fibre,” the company said in its announcement.
“Aussie continues to explore acquisitions in the ordinary course with a disciplined approach, having regard to our strong organic growth.”