Optus' incoming chief executive, Paul O'Sullivan, said "Uecomm's network footprint in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and the Gold Coast, its provision of high-bandwidth data services, its focus on Ethernet technology and its emphasis on serving the corporate mid-market will strengthen Optus' offerings to corporate customers".
O'Sullivan said should the acquisition be successful, Optus would retain Uecomm as a stand-alone channel servicing mid-sized (50-500 employee) corporates.
Immediately before announcing the offer, Optus signed an agreement with Alinta -- which holds a 66 percent stake in Uecomm -- in which it secured options to acquire up to 20 percent of Uecomm shares outstanding at an exercise price of 32.5 cents per share payable in cash.
"Alinta also intends (subject to no higher offer being publicly announced or made to Alinta) to accept Optus' offer for its remaining 46 percent shareholding, which by virtue of the agreement between Optus and Alinta, will result in Alinta effectively receiving 32.5 cents per share," Optus said.
The carrier's bid includes an offer of 40 cents per share for the remaining shares. The bid also includes an offer by Optus to take on Uecomm's AU$54 million debt to Alinta.
