Melbourne, Feb 25, 2008 (ABN Newswire) - Further to the announcement made to ASX on 4 February 2008, M2 Telecommunications Group Limited (ASX: MTU)("M2") today confirms that Completion of the Share Sale Agreement with Unitel Australia Pty Ltd ("Unitel"), the wholesale network services business of Commander Communications Ltd (ASX:CDR) occurred on Friday 22 February 2008.
In completing the Unitel acquisition, M2 has settled (in full) the agreed Base Consideration of $10 million (less adjustments) and effective Friday 22 February has assumed effective ownership of the wholesale network services assets of Commander.
The Unitel acquisition is a highly strategic step for M2's fast growing wholesale network services business ("M2 Wholesale"). The acquisition is forecast to be substantially earnings accretive for MTU, with consolidated Earnings Per Share (EPS) expected to increase by close to 50% or 2.9 cents per share (on an annualised basis), on approximately $37 million in additional annual revenue. M2's annualised revenues are expected to rise to approximately $140 million per year.
Commenting upon the completion of the Unitel acquisition, Vaughan Bowen, M2's CEO/Managing Director said, "In the few weeks following the initial announcement of our agreement to acquire Unitel, the reaction from Unitel staff and management has been very positive and most supportive. The process of communicating with Unitel's customers has commenced, during which we are explaining our commitment to building upon to these existing relationships and to substantially expanding their available wholesale product suite, particularly in the areas of mobile and high speed data services".
Unitel is to be integrated within M2 Wholesale. As stated previously, the Unitel management and partner support teams are to remain with the business, supported by the broader M2 Wholesale account management, product development and customer support teams. With the addition of Unitel, M2 Wholesale is now positioned as a "one stop shop" provider of wholesale network services to telecommunications service providers and Internet Service Providers, now offering a full suite of fixed line/Local Access Resale services, ADSL/ADSL2+ broadband services and third generation ("3G") mobile voice/data services.
About M2 TELECOMMUNICATIONS GROUP LIMITED
Established in 1999, M2 Telecommunications Group Limited (ASX: MTU) is a network independent provider of fixed-line, mobile and data telecommunications services Australia wide and in New Zealand. M2 is head-quartered in Melbourne and employs approximately 160 people nationwide.
Within its "M2 Telecom" business division, M2 offers a suite of unique bundled telecommunications services and value added offerings targeted principally at the small enterprise market, distributed through an exclusive trans-Tasman network of sales dealerships, agencies and through targeted on-line marketing ventures (www.simplymobiles.com.au and www.greenmobiles.com.au). M2 Telecom also incorporates Southern Cross Telco, an established retail and small enterprise targeted telco, acquired by M2 in October 2007.
"M2 Wholesale" is the other core business division of M2, in which wholesale telecommunications services are supplied to small and medium sized telecommunications service providers and Internet Service Providers (ISP's). M2 Wholesale was launched in mid 2006 following M2's appointment by Optus as its exclusively endorsed aggregator/enabler of Optus mobile services. As a further boost to its wholesale operations, in May 2007 M2 completed the purchase of Australia's largest independent data wholesaling business, Wholesale Communications Group Pty Ltd (WCG).
With the announcement in February 4 2008 of M2 Wholesale's acquisition of Commander Communication's established wholesale network services company, Unitel Australia Pty Ltd, M2's consolidated revenues now exceed $140 million (annualised), approximately evenly shared between M2 Telecom and M2 Wholesale.
Contact
Vaughan Bowen Managing Director / CEO Tel: (03) 9674 6555
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