Vocus to acquire TPG’s Enterprise, Government and Wholesale fixed business for $A5.25bn

• This transaction affirms and strengthens Vocus’ role as a key digital infrastructure operator in Australia serving the Enterprise, Government, and Wholesale sector

• The acquisition provides Vocus with scale and reach to drive competition in the sector

• Vocus to operate more than 50,000km of fibre connecting close to 20,000 buildings across all capital cities

Vocus and its shareholders (Macquarie Asset Management (MAM) and Aware Super) today announced the signing of a binding agreement to acquire TPG’s Enterprise, Government and Wholesale (EG&W) fixed business and fibre network assets for $A5.25 billion.

The acquisition will position Vocus as a key digital infrastructure operator in Australia, with an extensive integrated network of high-quality subsea, metropolitan, intercapital and regional fibre with significant breadth and scale. The complementary assets will allow Vocus to deliver highly valued services to a diversified base of customers and drive competition in the sector.

Under the terms of the agreement, Vocus and TPG will enter a long-term strategic partnership providing TPG with ongoing access to Vocus’ fibre infrastructure, delivering enduring network planning and access certainty.

Post acquisition, Vocus will operate a network of more than 50,000km of owned or leased fibre under long-term right of use arrangements, nearly 15,000km of international submarine cables, and close to 20,000 connected buildings. The agreement includes TPG’s fibre network infrastructure, EG&W fixed customer base, IT assets, international submarine cables, and Vision Network’s wholesale residential broadband business.

TPG will retain its mobile radio network infrastructure, Consumer and EG&W mobile business, and its Consumer and small office/home office commercial fixed business.

Jarrod Nink, Interim Chief Executive Officer at Vocus said: “This agreement is transformative for Vocus and is an important step towards creating a more competitive landscape for the Australian telecommunications industry.

“Digital infrastructure is the foundation of the modern economy, driving growth and innovation, and opening new markets and opportunities. Investment and competition in our industry is critical for Australia’s future and the combined strengths and resources of Vocus and TPG in the EG&W sector will create immediate and lasting benefits for our customers, employees and shareholders,” he said.

Ani Satchcroft, Co-Head of Infrastructure for Asia Pacific at MAM said: “We have continued to identify and actively pursue opportunities for Vocus presented by the increasing importance of digital infrastructure assets in the Asia Pacific region.

“Today’s agreement builds on our 2022 merger of Vocus’ New Zealand’s operations with 2degrees, which successfully created New Zealand’s third-largest integrated telecommunications company and has driven competition in that market.

“Combining TPG’s highly complementary assets with Vocus’ existing footprint will create a key digital infrastructure operator in Australia, providing significant scale to drive new opportunities to compete and better serve customers across the region.”

Mark Hector, Head of Infrastructure at Aware Super said: “We are pleased to partner with Macquarie Asset Management on this transformational transaction for Vocus.

“This agreement enhances the competitiveness of Vocus in the Australian digital infrastructure sector, offering its customers a greater breadth of services and end to end connectivity. It also strengthens the Aware Super digital infrastructure portfolio, a strategic focus for Aware and an area of investment we continue to pursue domestically and offshore in Europe and the USA,” he said. 

Vocus and TPG’s fibre assets serve largely complementary segments of Australia’s EG&W sector. Vocus’ extensive intercapital and regional fibre infrastructure will be integrated with TPG’s broad metropolitan fibre footprint, creating a highly competitive fibre network.

Vocus will acquire TPG’s PPC-1 submarine cable which runs from Sydney to Guam, accompanying Vocus’ existing Australia Singapore Cable, North-West Cable system, Darwin-Jakarta-Singapore Cable system, and the in-progress Pacific Connect cable system.

This will establish the company as an owner and operator of diverse and resilient international cable landings in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Darwin, and Port Hedland, along with capacity on numerous third-party cable systems.

The deal also includes TPG’s Vision Network wholesale residential broadband assets, with assets in major capital cities; Ballarat, Mildura, and Geelong; supporting Vocus’ growing consumer and NBN wholesale business. 

Vocus will commence integrating TPG’s fixed network assets, products, and solutions into Vocus’ systems once the acquisition is complete, subject to obtaining all necessary regulatory approvals. This is expected to deliver significant cost synergies across the business.

The acquisition is subject to customary conditions precedent for a transaction of this kind including applicable regulatory approvals, including from FIRB and the ACCC.