Australia greenlights Vocus' takeover of TPG Telecom's fibre, fixed assets
By Rishav Chatterjee and Aaditya GovindRao
(Reuters) -Macquarie-backed fibre network Vocus Group is closer to becoming one of Australia's largest owners of underground fibre infrastructure, as the competition regulator approved on Thursday its A$5.25 billion (about $3.3 billion) deal with TPG Telecom.
Vocus and TPG, back in October 2024, had agreed to a deal for the former to take over the telecom operator's fibre and fixed network infrastructure assets, enabling Vocus to connect almost 20,000 buildings in Australia.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said the deal would not likely result in a substantial reduction of competition in any market.
It said that Vocus would continue to face major competition from firms — including Telstra, Singapore Telecommunications-owned Optus — and local players such as Superloop and Aussie Broadband
A spokesperson for Vocus said that the ACCC's decision was a positive step, and TPG's complementary assets will allow Vocus to drive competition into the sector.
Analysts at Sandstone Insights called the clearance a major turning point for TPG, which resets its balance sheet.
"With lower interest costs, a declining opex profile and lower capex requirements, TPG is poised for substantial free cash flow growth for the next 3-4 years," the analysts said.
Shares in TPG gained 5% in Sydney, while those of its biggest rival Telstra were up 0.9%.
The deal remains subject to Foreign Investment Review Board approval and U.S. regulatory approvals, TPG said.
The Australian watchdog's review focused on how closely Vocus and TPG compete in the supply of data network and connectivity services, including fixed-line internet services, to large enterprise and government customers, it said in a statement.
The probe found that Vocus focuses on providing services to large enterprise and government clients while TPG concentrates on the small and medium enterprise segment of the market.
A Macquarie-managed infrastructure fund, alongside Aware Super, acquired Vocus in 2021, taking the company private and delisting it.
($1 = 1.5721 Australian dollars)
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Advertisement Fitzgerald, who spent his career in real estate private equity, said American donors — especially the younger generation — expect transparency and accountability from recipients of their money, and know they can find non-Vatican Catholic charities that meet those expectations. 'We would expect transparency before we would start to solve the problem,' he said. That said, Fitzgerald said he hadn't seen any significant let-up in donor willingness to fund the Papal Foundation's project-specific donations during the Francis pontificate. Indeed, U.S. donations to the Vatican overall have remained more or less consistent even as other countries' offerings declined, with U.S. bishops and individual Catholics contributing more than any other country in the two main channels to donate to papal causes. A head for numbers and background fundraising Francis moved Prevost to take over the diocese of Chiclayo, Peru, in 2014. 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Before going to Peru, Prevost served two terms as prior general, or superior, of the global Augustinian order. While the order's local provinces are financially independent, Prevost was responsible for reviewing their balance sheets and oversaw the budgeting and investment strategy of the order's headquarters in Rome, said the Rev. Franz Klein, the order's Rome-based economist who worked with Prevost. The Augustinian campus sits on prime real estate just outside St. Peter's Square and supplements revenue by renting out its picturesque terrace to media organizations (including the AP) for major Vatican events, including the conclave that elected Leo pope. But even Prevost saw the need for better fundraising, especially to help out poorer provinces. Toward the end of his 12-year term and with his support, a committee proposed creation of a foundation, Augustinians in the World. At the end of 2023, it had 994,000 euros ($1.13 million) in assets and was helping fund self-sustaining projects across Africa, including a center to rehabilitate former child soldiers in Congo. Advertisement 'He has a very good interest and also a very good feeling for numbers,' Klein said. 'I have no worry about the finances of the Vatican in these years because he is very, very clever.'
