Australian incumbent Telstra has completed the sale of a 70% stake in directories business Sensis to Platinum Equity for A$454m (US$405m).
The closure follows recent confirmation from the Foreign Investment Review Board that it has no objections to the…
Australian incumbent Telstra has completed the sale of a 70% stake in directories business Sensis to Platinum Equity for A$454m (US$405m).
The closure follows recent confirmation from the Foreign Investment Review Board that it has no objections to the deal, Telstra said in a statement.
The deal excludes Sensis’ voice services business, which Telstra retains. The Melbourne-based telco noted that economic benefits will be derived from services it will continue to provide to Sensis.
Telstra, which first announced the deal on 13 January, said the sale proceeds are incremental to its FY 2014 free cashflow guidance of A$4.6bn (US$4.1bn) to A$5.1bn (US$4.55bn).
The telco expects to book an accounting loss on Sensis of about A$150m (US$133.85m). A$100m (US$89.23m) of this was included in the H2 2013 results and the remainder is set to be accounted for in H2 this year.
In January, Telstra CEO David Thodey said that, having spent the past two years enhancing Sensis’ digital directory offerings, the time had come to introduce Platinum Equity as a strategic partner to “drive further momentum”.
Last December, Telstra agreed to sell its 76.4% stake in Hong Kong mobile operator CSL back to the owner of smaller rival HKT for A$2bn (US$1.85bn).