AAPT sale wraps, Yuile departs

TPG completes $450 million acquisition of AAPT

AAPT CEO David Yuile moves on.

AAPT CEO David Yuile moves on.

TPG has completed its $450 million acquisition of AAPT from Telecom NZ.

The deal, announced on 9 December, was made on a debt-free and cash-free basis. The $450 million cash consideration was funded through a combination of bank debt and cash reserves.

Telecom had sold the consumer division of AAPT to iiNet in 2010.

The completion of the TPG deal also means the departure of AAPT CEO David Yuile, whose resignation was announced earlier this week.

"I am incredibly proud of what we have achieved at AAPT, transforming the company into a highly competitive data and internet provider," Yuile had said in a statement. Yuile said it was the right time for him to "consider new options"

When the TPG deal was announced independent telecom analyst Chris Coughlan told Computerworld Australia that the purchase would help TPG appeal to businesses.

“There [are] opportunities for TPG to use AAPT’s assets and the goodwill it has in the business market to grow that side of the business,” he said at the time “It could also become a better competitor to the likes of Optus and iiNet in the enterprise space.”

TPG made several moves in 2013 to build up the company’s infrastructure and bring new services to market.

The telco paid $13.5 million in the Digital Dividend auction to acquire 2x10MHz of spectrum in the 2.5 GHz band, leading to speculation by some analysts that TPG was positioning itself to be Australia’s fourth major mobile network operator.

At the time, TPG called the new spectrum “a valuable asset which, with developing technologies, will bring TPG the opportunity to offer innovative and value-adding products to its customers, particularly in the increasingly important wireless broadband market”.

In August, TPG announced it would acquire international fibre capacity on Hawaiki Cable Limited’s Australia to US undersea cable, a 14,000 km cable running from Sydney to the west coast of the US, crossing New Zealand and Hawaii. Using the latest 100 Gbps wavelength technology, the cable is expected to provide up to 3 Tbps per second capacity.

Adam Bender covers telco and enterprise tech issues for Computerworld and is the author of a dystopian novel about surveillance. Follow him on Twitter: @WatchAdam

Follow Computerworld Australia on Twitter: @ComputerworldAU, or take part in the Computerworld conversation on LinkedIn: Computerworld Australia

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