Aussie Broadband makes a play for Symbio

Aussie Broadband has made a non-binding conditional play for unified communications as-a-service (UCaaS) provider Symbio that values the company at about $271 million.

The offer, announced late on Friday, comes in higher than a previous bid for Symbio made by Superloop, which initially valued the company at $243 million, and was raised to $250 million last week. [pdf]

Superloop had said its latest offer was “best and final”, and that it “will not improve the offer, in the absence of a superior proposal”.

Aussie Broadband is placing a higher monetary value on Symbio, and also offering a higher cash component.

The acquisition is conditional on due diligence and a unanimous recommendation by Symbio’s board.

Aussie Broadband and Symbio have agreed to a three-week “exclusivity” period for due diligence to be performed.

In an ASX filing [pdf], Aussie Broadband said that “discussions with Symbio remain incomplete, and there is no certainty than any transaction will eventuate”

Symbio said [pdf] that Aussie Broadband would fund the cash portion of the transaction via a new debt facility.

The UCaaS provider said its board and advisors considered the Aussie Broadband offer “superior” to Superloop’s.

It added that a condition of the exclusivity deed is that it “has agreed to (among other things) terminate discussions with other third parties in relation to any competing proposal.”

Symbio noted that the exclusivity agreement would mean it could not meet conditions in Superloop’s “best and final offer”, with respect to certain timelines.