Uniti seals $3.62bn deal with Morrison

THE bidding war for Uniti Group appears to be over with the broadband and communications company sealing a $3.62bn deal with the consortium led by the Morrison and Co Infrastructure Partnership.

Uniti’s shares were trading at $3.15 per share on March 14 when news broke it was in talks with HRL Morrison and Co about a “highly conditional and uncertain” $4.50 per share bid. Just more than a week later the Connect Consortium, led by Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets Holdings lobbed a $5 per share cash bid, prompting Uniti to terminate the exclusivity arrangements it had with Morrison.

The Morrison Consortium, which now includes Brookfield Australia and Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation, came back with its own $5 bid in late March, on the basis that Uniti agree to no longer deal with the Connect Consortium.

Uniti’s board said on Thursday that they would unanimously recommend the Morrison bid in the absence of a superior proposal and subject to an independent expert’s report. Uniti shares closed up 2.9 per cent at $4.96 on Thursday.