Aussie Broadband makes a play for Superloop

Aussie Broadband has made a conditional play for fellow retail service provider Superloop, buying 19.9 percent of shares in the provider and putting a total value on it of around $466 million.

Aussie Broadband co-founder and managing director Phillip Britt.

The retail service provider said today it had acquired a 19.9 percent interest in Superloop “at $0.95 in cash per share”.

The company also submitted a “non-binding indicative proposal” to Superloop to purchase all remaining shares for an all-scrip consideration of 0.21 Aussie Broadband shares per Superloop share.

Based on an Aussie Broadband share price of $4.53, this values Superloop shares at $0.95 per share.

Aussie Broadband said that synergies could be gained by merging with Superloop.

The outcomes would principally be scale: the emergence of “a scale player in Australia providing broadband access services exceeding 1 million subscribers, with greater reach and network infrastructure”, the company said in a financial filing.

Business and wholesale offerings could also benefit, while the combined company could also have a lower cost base, Aussie Broadband said.

Aussie Broadband noted that its offer is conditional, subject to due diligence, a mutually acceptable scheme implementation deed being drafted, and “unanimous recommendation from the Superloop board”.

"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,” Aussie Broadband group managing director Phillip Britt said in a statement.

Aussie Broadband has been in acquisition mode of late, snapping up Symbio at the end of last year, as well as Uniti's NBN customer base earlier in 2023.