NZ's Infratil to buy stake in One New Zealand for $1.1 billion

By Navya Mittal

(Reuters) -New Zealand's infrastructure investor Infratil said on Wednesday it will acquire Canada's Brookfield Asset Management's stake in One New Zealand for NZ$1.8 billion ($1.1 billion) to strengthen its digital and renewable portfolio.

Infratil will have full control over the country's second biggest mobile market operator by market share after buying the 49.95% stake. It will fund the purchase through a NZ$850 million equity raising.

"Beyond One NZ, we continue to see exciting near-term opportunities for investment across our portfolio, in particular across our digital and renewables platforms," said Jason Boyes, Infratil's chief executive officer in a statement.

One New Zealand, previously known as Vodafone NZ, has 2.7 million connections of its mobile and broadband networks.

"Since acquiring One New Zealand with Brookfield in 2019, we have invested meaningful capital to support network expansion, including the roll-out of 5G, and are pleased to now assume full ownership of the business," said William Smales, chief investment officer at Morrison & Co, which manages Infratil.

The deal is expected to be earning accretive with the company lifting its fiscal 2024 guidance for proportionate earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation, fair value movements to between NZ$800 million to NZ$840 million from its previous forecast of between NZ$570 million to NZ$610 million.

($1 = 1.6466 New Zealand dollars)

(Reporting by Navya Mittal in Bengaluru; Editing by Chris Reese, Lisa Shumaker and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)