QIC makes $494m offer for Superloop

Superloop founder Bevan Slattery.

Superloop today revealed that QIC subsidiary QIC Private Capital Pty Ltd had made an unsolicited, non-binding acquisition offer for the ASX-listed network operator.

The indicative offer of $1.95 per share was received on 26 April, and represented an increase of $0.05 per share on the offer made by QIC in a previously undisclosed approach to Superloop on 2 April. Superloop’s closing share price on 2 April was $1.465.

The revised offer would value the acquisition deal at $494 million.

In a statement released to the ASX, Superloop said its board had “undertaken a careful review of the revised indicative proposal and determined that it is in the best interests of Superloop shareholders to grant QIC a period of approximately three weeks to conduct due diligence on an exclusive basis ... in order to establish whether an acceptable binding transaction can be agreed.”

Superloop was a network infrastructure operator spun out of Bevan Slattery’s interconnection-as-a-service provider Megaport. In 2015, the company joined the ASX.

Superloop has made a string of acquisitions, including the Slattery-founded Subpartners, which is part of the consortium that backed the INDIGO cable system. It has also acquired a collection of wireless network businesses, including BigAir, NuSkope and GX2.

The company last year launched a retail Internet service provider arm, including acquiring 10,000 fixed line broadband subscribers from SkyMesh.

Last year Drew Kelton joined Superloop as its CEO, with Slattery stepping down from the role.

Superloop reported a net profit after tax of $7.1 million for the 12 months ended 30 June 2018, compared to a net loss of $1.2 million for FY17. EBITDA was up 533 per cent to $29.1 million, with underlying EBITDA up 240 per cent to $30.6 million. Group revenue was up 109 per cent to $125.2 million.