TeamTalk mops up the rest of CityLink

TeamTalk mops up the rest of CityLink in share swap worth $890,000

by Paul McBeth

Dec. 2 (BusinessWire) – TeamTalk Ltd., the country’s largest mobile radio company, has mopped up the remaining shares in CityLink Ltd. through a share swap worth some $890,000.

CityLink Holdings, which is owned by four current and former employees of CityLink, will swap their investment in the Wellington fibre network operator for 386,598 shares in TeamTalk, with a one-year option to double their holding at a discounted price of $2.24 a share.

Stock in TeamTalk was unchanged at $2.30, and has climbed 18% in the past 12 months.

“The deal increases our economic interest from over 90% to 100%, thus giving us more control over one of our strategic assets and therefore provides us with more flexibility,” said managing director David Ware in a statement.

“We have been particularly happy with its performance since we first invested in the group three years ago.”

TeamTalk is positioning itself to grow its turnover by about a third in the next three to five years as it looks to tap the government’s $1.5 billion roll-out of ultra-fast broadband.

It plans to pitch itself as a preferred partner and replicate its current Auckland CBD and Wellington CityLink networks.

CityLink was formed as a Wellington City Council initiative in 1995, which ran fibre-optic cable along the overhead trolley-bus cables to implement low-cost high-speed internet network for local businesses.

The network has been expanded into several Wellington suburbs and the Auckland central business district.

(BusinessWire) 12:29:11

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