Asia Pacific Telecom Co (APT, 亞太電信) chairman Lu Fang-ming (呂芳銘) entered a sale and purchase agreement with Macquarie Holdings (Singapore) Pte to buy a stake in the nation’s No. 3 cable TV system operator in his own capacity, a statement released yesterday said.
“The proposed purchase of Taiwan Broadband Communications Co [TBC, 台灣寬頻] is Lu’s personal investment and has nothing to do with APT or Hon Hai Precision Industry Co [鴻海精密],” APT said in a statement.
However, the deal still prompted speculation that it could be Hon Hai’s latest step toward the expansion of its business scope to the cable TV industry and APT might benefit from the digital convergence of telecom and cable businesses.
Hon Hai holds about a 23 percent share of APT after expanding to the telecom sector by acquiring the company last year via its subsidiary Ambit Microsystems Corp (國碁電子).
APT shares rallied nearly 10 percent of the daily limit to NT$10.9 yesterday. TBC has 750,000 subscribers, behind Kbro Co (凱擘) and China Network Systems Co (CNS, 中嘉網路).
Lu has proposed a full buy out of Macquarie APTT Management Ptd Ltd — the trustee manager of Asia Pay Television Trust (APTT), which owns TBC — the APT statement said.
No financial details were disclosed yesterday.
Upon completion of the proposed transaction, Macquarie is likely to divest its entire interest in the units of APTT to a related entity of Lu, amounting to 43.10 million units, or about 3 percent of the unitholding of APTT.
Lu said he believes that “APTT is a high-quality business, and an excellent platform to leverage his sector experience and strategic partnerships in content creation, data processing and telecom services, which might have the potential to drive further growth for APTT unitholders,” a separate statement released by Macquarie said.
If and when the transaction is completed, Lu is likely to appoint a new chief executive officer and chief financial officer of the trustee-manager, the statement said. It is unlikely there would be changes made to the independent directors of the board of the trustee-manager or TBC’s senior management team.
The completion of the proposed transaction is subject to approval by relevant regulatory bodies and lenders.
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