Australia's Vocus to acquire its rival M2 Group for A$1.93B

Australia - Vocus Communications will purchase M2 Group for A$1.93B. The merging will be completed in 2016. Vocus Communications Ltd. had come up with an agreement to purchase M2 Group for A$1.93B, that's US$1.35B worth. The deal will be the country's biggest acquisition in the telecom industry in four months, Bloomberg reported.

The tie-up will make them the fourth largest telecommunication company in Australia and the third largest in New Zealand, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Vocus said the merging would create a market value of over A$3.0B (or US$1.4B) with a profit worth of A$1.8B and EBITDA of A$370M. Investors from M2 group will have 1.625 per share (A$10.55).

Financial Times cited Vocus has been actively participating with merging and acquisitions in the telecom sector this year. Last June, it purchased Amcom Communications for A$1.2B.

Analysts see the agreement will be a perfect timing with Australia's National Broadband Network. It is a high-speed, open-accessed network that the country is currently developing for retail service providers.

Luke Macnab, an analyst from Baillieu Holst Ltd. said, "It looks like a fairly logical fit. Combining their offerings, the marketing and the infrastructure makes them a much more viable competitor to some of the larger players."

In line with that, M2 CEO Geoff Horth will be the head of the group while Vocus CEO James Spenceley will be the executive director. Spencely will focus on the telecom infrastructure.

Along with that, M2 Chairman Craig Farrow will be the deputy chairman as Vocus Chairman David Spence will lead the board of four directors.

Combining the two would save a total of A$40M annually. It will bind Vocus' infrastructure and M2's SME segments across Australia and New Zealand.

As the decision was unanimously agreed by the board members of the two companies, they are advising shareholders to accept the agreement in the meeting which will be held next year. The deal is expected to be completed in 2016.