Australian owner of Slingshot and Orcon receives $3.5 billion takeover offer

Monday, 27 May 2019

Vocus shares have jumped on the Australian stock market in the wake of a takeover offer.

Vocus, the Australian owner of Kiwi internet brands Slingshot and Orcon, may be changing hands after the ASX-listed firm received an A$3.3 billion (NZ$3.5b) takeover offer from Swedish private equity company EQT Infrastructure.

Vocus shares jumped 24 per cent in the wake of the offer, which was at a hefty 35 per cent premium to the stock's closing price on Friday.

The company said the offer was subject to conditions that included due diligence, financing, and the unanimous recommendation of the offer by Vocus' board.

* Orcon creates 60 jobs bringing customer support back to NZ

* Orcon, Slinghot owner sees share price plunge 23pc on ASX**

Vocus said it had decided grant EQT the non-exclusive right to conduct due diligence on the firm, so it could present a formal, binding offer.

That process was likely to take a 'number of weeks', it said.

The Commerce Commission estimated Vocus NZ had about a 13 per cent of the New Zealand fixed-line broadband market, by connections, last year.

Vocus attempted to sell its New Zealand business last year, but canned that plan after offers did not meet expectations.