Vocus NZ CEO: IPO still possible despite group acquisition

Vocus Group may yet choose to publicly list Vocus New Zealand.

This comes after yesterday’s confirmation that the group is to be acquired by a consortium of Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets – MIRA – and Aware Super. The deal values Vocus Group at A$3.5 billion. 

Announcing the scheme implementation deed – SID – agreement in a statement to the ASX, Vocus Group indicated an initial public offering of Vocus NZ mooted in November would no longer go ahead.

“Whilst Vocus has received strong interest from investors around the potential for an initial public offering – IPO – of Vocus New Zealand, consistent with its obligations under the SID, Vocus no longer intends to pursue the IPO of Vocus New Zealand for so long as the SID is in effect,” the statement said.

But today, Vocus New Zealand chief executive Mark Callander told BusinessDesk an IPO is still a possibility.

“It’s been put on hold until we understand in a bit more detail what MIRA and Aware Super choose to do,” he said.

“There’s no final decision made; it will definitely be reassessed.”

This echoes Vocus Group CEO Kevin Russell’s comments to the Australian Financial Review yesterday.

Russell told AFR he expects the IPO will go ahead in the second half of this year “or the consortium will look at deploying capital into New Zealand”.

Growth still the plan

Callander said investment in the NZ operation was still a priority.

“Should the New Zealand business either have a different area of focus and investment, that investment could come from MIRA for example, or it could come through an IPO,” he said.

“Either way it’s a good outcome for the New Zealand operation. It comes back to the principle that we want capital to grow, we see good consolidation opportunities in the market, an IPO was going to free us up to do that."

"Alternatively, if we have a new owner that is also motivated to invest in the New Zealand asset and New Zealand opportunity that’s also very positive,” he said.

Callander said the initial public offer is still intended to be a dual listing on the ASX and NZX, and said he would leave his current additional duties as chief executive of wholesale Australia and be solely in charge of the NZ business.

Vocus New Zealand reported revenue of $398.8 million for the year ended June 30, about a fifth of the group's overall revenue of A$1.78b for the same period. The NZ arm, which owns the Orcon, Slingshot, and Flip brands, is the country's third-largest fixed-line broadband provider behind Spark and Vodafone.