(Reuters) -Australia’s TPG Telecom Ltd said on Monday it had ended discussions with Macquarie-backed rival Vocus Group for the sale of some of its non-mobile fibre assets for about A$6.3 billion ($4.00 billion) as the parties failed to agree commercial terms.
“The proposed transaction involved considerable complexity and, ultimately, the parties have been unable to reach alignment on the operating model and commercial terms,” TPG Telecom said in a statement.
In August, Vocus had made a non-binding offer to TPG Telecom to acquire certain Enterprise, Government and Wholesale (EGW) assets and associated fixed infrastructure assets, including wholesale broadband business Vision Network.
TPG later extended the due diligence period for the deal in September, before it expired in October.
TPG on Friday said it will continue to work on its strategic review, noting “ongoing strong interest” from potential investors in the company’s fixed infrastructure assets.
Vocus did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The collapse of the fibre sale deal with Vocus is a second such setback for TPG Telecom, whose asset swap deal with bigger rival Telstra Group was blocked by the country’s antitrust regulator and Australian Competition Tribunal.
Under the asset swap deal, Telstra would have bought spectrum and transmission towers from TPG, while TPG would have kept selling 4G and 5G coverage using Telstra infrastructure.
($1 = 1.5743 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Himanshi Akhand in Bengaluru; Editing by Sandra Maler and Grant McCool)
