Telecom New Zealand has completed the sale of AAPT to TPG Telecom for $A450 million.
The deal was announced on December 9. The cash consideration was funded through a combination of bank debt and cash reserves.
The sale is in line with Telecom’s goal of becoming a Cloud-centric communications and IT services provider.
“The sale of AAPT was consistent with this strategy and with our desire to focus principally on our NZ operations and on the needs of NZ customers,” Telecom chief executive officer (CEO), Simon Moutter, said.
Following a period of cost reduction and operational improvement, AAPT has been focused on a revenue growth plan within business and wholesale markets.
The completion of the sale comes as Telecom prepares to rebrand to Spark, a move intended to reflect the company’s expansion beyond home telecommunications. Telecom’s Gen-i and Telecom Digital Ventures units will become Spark Digital Solutions and Spark Ventures, respectively.
The rebranding was announced at Telecom’s financials briefing in which it revealed it recorded net profit after taxes (NPAT) of $NZ147 million (excluding discontinued operations) for the six months ended December 31, 2013, marking a 12.5 per cent dip. Including discontinued operations, the figure sits at $NZ167m.
