SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA: Connexa, the independent mobile towers enterprise in which Spark New Zealand is a shareholder, has reached an settlement with 2degrees Mobile to purchase 2degrees’ passive mobile telecommunications tower assets.
2degrees is an entity owned by managed funds of Macquarie Asset Management and Aware Super.
Connexa is an independent mobile towers enterprise that was formed following the sale of a 70% stake in Spark’s passive mobile infrastructure assets to the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (Ontario Teachers’) in July 2022, with the transaction finishing in October 2022.
The tower portfolio to be acquired by Connexa includes 1,124 mobile towers located throughout Aotearoa New Zealand. Under the phrases of the deal, 2degrees has entered right into a 20-year settlement with Connexa (plus rights of renewal) to safe entry to existing and new towers, with an additional tower construct and co-location dedication of 450 websites over the subsequent 10 years.
Spark will not contribute fairness to the acquisition, which will result in its shareholding in Connexa being diluted from 30% to roughly 17% (of the ensuing bigger business) following completion of the acquisition. Ontario Teachers’ will present funding for the deal and its shareholding will increase to roughly 83%. Spark will retain its existing governance rights together with Board illustration and advantages from the worth accretive expansion of the business.
Spark CEO Jolie Hodson says, “We believe that the addition of 2degrees’ passive mobile tower assets into Connexa will ship greater operational efficiencies that will support extra infrastructure sharing, higher community economics, and faster deployment of new digital infrastructure throughout Aotearoa.
“We are happy to proceed to be a shareholder in a larger, and much extra environment friendly business, and we glance ahead to working in partnership with Connexa because it delivers our new site construct programme of 670 websites over the subsequent 10 years. We are additionally happy to expand the strategic relationship we have with Ontario Teachers’, with this transaction reflective of the lengthy term, collaborative partnership we established with our tower sale earlier within the year.”
Completion is topic to customary approvals from the Overseas Investment Office (OIO) and Commerce Commission and is anticipated to happen mid-2023.
Jarden has been appointed as monetary advisor to Spark on the transaction.