Vocus NZ 'IPO' may still go ahead after parent's $3.7b sale

Tuesday, 9 March 2021

Vocus NZ may still be destined for the NZX, with an analyst forecasting its new Australian owner will seek to 'monetise” the business.

New Zealand’s fourth-largest telco, Vocus NZ, could still be floated on the NZX despite a decision by the company's Australian-listed owner to accept a takeover offer for the entire business, reports suggest.

Vocus announced on Tuesday that it was putting a planned initial public offering (IPO) of Slingshot and Orcon owner Vocus NZ on hold after recommending shareholders accept an A$3.5 billion (NZ$3.7b) takeover offer from Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (Mira).

But Vocus chief executive Kevin Russell told the Australian Financial Review he still thought the IPO would go ahead “at the right time”, probably during the second half of this year.

* NZ's fourth-largest telco to be sold through NZX sharemarket float

The AFR reported that Mira was mainly believed to be interested in Vocus for the 20,000 kilometres of fibre-optic cables that it owns in Australia and overseas.

Analyst Morningstar forecast Macquarie would look for “consolidation” opportunities for Vocus’ Australian retail business, while seeking to “monetise” Vocus NZ.

Vocus NZ had 226,000 broadband customers last year, making it the third-largest player in the fixed-line market after Spark and Vodafone New Zealand, and is the fourth largest telco overall, after 2degrees.

It reported revenues of almost $400 million in the year to June and employs about 600 staff.