Canada’s PSP Investments and Macquarie Asset Management have submitted a A$3.6bn (€2.5bn) counterbid for Australian fibre infrastructure firm Uniti Group.
The 50-50 partnership, known as Connect Consortium, has offered Adelaide-based Uniti a cash payment of A$5 per share via a scheme of arrangement.
This compares with an offer of A$4.50 per share from Morrison & Co last week, valuing Uniti at A$3.05bn.
In a late after-market development, Uniti announced that Brookfield has joined forces with Morrison & Co to bid for the company.
Uniti advised the market that it had agreed to terminate the existing exclusivity deed it entered into with Morrison & Co and enter into a new exclusivity deed with Morrison & Co and Brookfield Infrastructure Group as a joint bidder.
These discussions continued to be non-binding, preliminary, highly conditional and uncertain as to an outcome, the company said.
Uniti said the Connect Consortium’s indicative proposal was subject to a number of conditions, including satisfactory completion of due diligence, regulatory approval and the bidders receiving internal final approvals for the acquisition.
“The board of Uniti is currently considering the terms of the Connect Consortium indicative proposal,” it said while noting that it was uncertain that the indicative proposal would result in an offer to Uniti shareholders.
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