Sydney, Tuesday 8th June 2021 - Superloop has announced its intent to acquire Exetel for $110 million.
The acquisition has been funded by a fully-underwritten capital raise, and support from Superloop's banks.
Exetel is Australia's largest private, independent Internet Service Provider (ISP), with more than 110,000 consumer and business customers.
The acquisition will more than double Superloop's revenue, to a pro forma figure of $261 million, and see a pro forma uplift in EBITDA of 89% to approximately $34 million, including savings of approximately $5 million per year from network synergies.
All of Exetel's employees (approximately 290) will join Superloop, expanding the total workforce to approximately 550 people. Exetel's CEO Richard Purdy will continue to lead Exetel for a transition period, reporting to Superloop's CEO Paul Tyler.
Both brand names will remain, and there are no plans to reduce headcount as a direct result of the acquisition. The newly-combined business sales team will cross-sell new products over the expanded network footprint to both customer bases.
"This brings together the high capacity infrastructure that Superloop has built over the past six years, to meet continuing and growing demand for fast, reliable Internet services that are easy and quick to access. Exetel's 110,000+ business and consumer end-users will be able to take advantage of that infrastructure," said Paul Tyler, CEO of Superloop.
"This acquisition is part of our strategy of accelerating utilisation of Superloop's APAC network that we have built across the main metropolitan centres here in Australia, and in Singapore and Hong Kong. It's the latest example of our approach to drive growth and scale across the three distinct customer segments of consumers, business and wholesale.
"The acquisition accelerates returns to Superloop investors in increased revenues, EBITDA and user numbers. It creates scale, giving Superloop the market presence to meet the demand from consumer, business and wholesale customers for high-speed services. And it gives users the certainty of service, and the great user experiences they increasingly demand and expect."
Richard Purdy, CEO of Exetel, said, “The combination of our business with Superloop will create a player of genuine scale, able to take the challenge to the large incumbent operators which has been part of the Exetel DNA from the outset."
“Importantly, it also creates increased opportunities for our people by becoming part of a larger, more diversified business, and enables our customers to gain access to a superior network. I have been impressed by the strong cultural alignment between our companies and the exciting prospects for the Exetel brand to continue to develop.”
Exetel will continue to provide Internet, telephone (VoIP & mobile) and communications services to its customers. The backhaul services for these customers will be migrated to Superloop's network, including automated network capacity management
"The migration of Exetel's users to the Superloop backhaul network also strengthens our wholesale offering by increasing its scale," said Paul Tyler. "It adds critical mass to our wholesale business, will strengthen our backhaul network, and allows us to accelerate the automation of NBN connectivity and management using the Superloop Connect platform."
For more information:
Contact media@superloop.com.
