Superloop turns down Aussie Broadband's takeover bid

Superloop has rejected an unsolicited $466 million bid by Aussie Broadband to buy out the company as "opportunistic" and undervalued.

The rejection came late on Monday afternoon, after Aussie Broadband revealed its acquisition plans first thing in the morning.

Aussie Broadband purchased 19.9 percent of Superloop “at $0.95 in cash per share” and then made a conditional, “non-binding indicative proposal” to acquire the remaining shares at the same value.

“The board of Superloop has, together with its retained financial and legal advisers, considered the offer and believes that the indicative proposal is opportunistic and fundamentally undervalues Superloop," it said in an ASX release [pdf]. 

“The board does not intend to engage with ABB [Aussie Broadband] on the indicative proposal."

Superloop shares closed at $0.875 on Friday last week; they jumped 14.29 percent today to $1.00. Aussie Broadband shares closed at $4.35 on Friday and traded at $4.62 today.

Aussie Broadband had sought to acquire and merge with Superloop principally to achieve scale.

The combined entity would have in excess of 1 million broadband subscribers, and also have "greater reach and network infrastructure”, the company said in a filing of its own [pdf].

Business and wholesale offerings would also benefit, and the combined company could also have a lower cost base, according to Aussie Broadband.