(Reuters) -TPG Telecom, one of Australia's top telecom firms, on Tuesday said it received an offer from Macquarie-backed rival Vocus to buy some of its non-mobile fibre assets for about A$6.3 billion ($4.21 billion), sending its shares up over 12%.
TPG Telecom in statement said that Vocus made an indicative, conditional and non-binding offer to acquire certain Enterprise, Government and Wholesale (EGW) assets and associated fixed infrastructure assets, including wholesale broadband business Vision Network.
Shares of TPG Telecom shot up 12.4% to A$5.64 as of 0537 GMT, after resuming trading, touching their highest level since June 2 and marking their biggest intraday jump ever.
The offer comes at a time when TPG Telecom's asset swap deal with bigger rival Telstra Group - which involves Telstra buying spectrum and transmission towers from TPG, and the latter selling 4G and 5G coverage using Telstra infrastructure - is facing strong regulatory opposition.
The EGW unit contributed around 18% to TPG's total fiscal 2022 revenue of A$5.42 billion, while Vision Network currently has a network of more than 410,000 homes in six major Australian capitals and three regional Victorian cities.
After assessing the offer, TPG Telecom has provided Vocus exclusive due diligence, which is currently set to expire on September 6, the telecom firm said.
Earlier in the day, the Australian Financial Review reported that Macquarie Asset Management (MAM), through Vocus, was in talks with TPG Telecom to buy all of its fibre assets except mobile assets, which would create a combined entity with an A$8 billion ($5.35 billion) to A$9 billion enterprise valuation.
MAM did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment, while TPG said its board "has not made any decision to accept any offer, and there is no certainty an agreed transaction will eventuate."
($1 = 1.4977 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Sameer Manekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema)
