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Singtel shares shot up 4 per cent, the company requested a trading halt, newswire copy filled screens, and phones started to ring across the city – before the mothership admitted to “strategic reviews” while keeping schtum on the identity of the suitor. |
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More details have emerged since, with Singtel understood to be leaning on JPMorgan in Singapore, while Morgan Stanley is also understood to be in-and-around the situation. |
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Brookfield is self-advised, at this stage, although it has historically been close to law firm Allens. The law firms are expected to be heavily involved in the talks, given any bid to buy Optus – and its 10.5 million mobile accounts in a country of 26.6 million – will face scrutiny from the regulators. |
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Sources described the deal as “still early days” and said it was “Brookfield-led”. As we reported, a consortium partner may come along for the ride, with sources pointing to the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, or CPPIB. |
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Sources told this column that Brookfield’s interest in Australia’s second-largest telco began in 2021, as it ploughed through the data room for Singtel’s Australian Tower Network. The Canadian didn’t win the auction – AustralianSuper made a $1.9 billion investment in the local cellphone tower network – but its deal makers liked what they saw and were soon back, pushing for Singtel to come to the table for a broader deal. |
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Discussions became more “meaty” last June, sources said, when Brookfield sold its stake in Vodafone New Zealand to Morrison and Co’s Infratil. The bet on the New Zealand telco had been a lucrative one for Brookfield, and it was keen to see if it could hit another home-run on Australian shores. |
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Singtel’s official response is about as tightly worded as possible – and leans pretty heavily on semantics. There was no impending deal, it said, “for the said sum”. The Singaporean group said it would “regularly conduct strategic reviews” but made no mention of if, and who, a potential suitor was. |
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The missing name, this column can assure you, is Brookfield. |
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Click here for the latest equity market wrap. |
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