- Vodafone New Zealand purchased for $3.4 billion
- Been on sale since 2017 after the Commerce Commission blocked merge with Sky TV
Vodafone has sold its New Zealand branch to utility company Infratil and Canadian investment firm Brookfield Asset Management for $3.4 billion.
Ideas of a sale were raised on Friday when Infratil confirmed that talks were taking place and the company, Vodafone, had entered a trading halt on the New Zealand stock exchange.
The trading halt was lifted this morning, Tuesday May 14, and they were down 4.6 percent at $4.15 per share.
The New Zealand branch has been on sale for some time after the Commerce Commission refused to let it merge with Sky TV in 2017. It was previously believed to be planned about selling it through a share float.
Infratil is well known for its involvement in infrastructure investments having also been involved in buying Shell Oil in conjunction with the Superannuation Fund.
This purchase is transformational for Infratil and will significantly strengthen its cash generative core portfolio. Following other recent signings this will allow Infratil to hold substantial positions across renewable energy, data, retirement, aged care and airports.
Brookfield is a global alternative asset manager which owns and operates assets primarily focusing on real estate, renewable power, private equity and infrastructure.
Vodafone NZ generated $2 billion in revenue and $463 million in earnings for the 12 months from March 31 with this purchase implying a value of 6.9 to 7.4 times this year’s earnings.
The purchase is expected to be funded via a $1,029 million equity contribution from Infratil and Brookfield with the balance funded from Vodafone NZ debt and a portion of equity reserved for the executive team.
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