Australian ISP iiNet is on the verge of announcing a deal to buy a piece of local telco AAPT.
iiNet yesterday announced a two-day trading halt pending the announcement of a “potential acquisition.”
That acquisition is believed to be AAPT, 100% owned by Telecom New Zealand, whose shares have also been suspended.
According to the Australian, iiNet is set to acquire AAPT’s consumer assets for about A$60 million ($53.9m) in cash and debt.
AAPT operates over 350 DSL exchanges and has about 115,000 ADSL subs and 230,000 voice customers.
iiNet is believed to be ramping up its customer base – which includes 530,000 broadband subs – before the new national broadband network arrives.
In a statement to the market, TNZ said it is considering offers for AAPT that were in the best interests of shareholders. It does not consider AAPT to be a core asset.