Superloop (ASX:SLC) acquires Acurus for AU$15 million; shares gain

Telecommunication giant, Superloop Limited (ASX:SLC), has announced today that it has acquired Acurus Holdings Pty Ltd for AU$15 million. Acurus is a Melbourne-based white label and technology firm.

The conditional sale and purchase agreement (SPA) will let Superloop to grow white label broadband relationships and bring profitable growth in its subscriber base.

About Acurus

Acurus is an Australian company that provides services related to technology. Some of the country’s biggest businesses are its clients, Energy Australia and OfficeWorks to name a few. It’s white label platform and services support the Internet offerings behind some of the biggest brands in Australia like Bakers Delight, Zen Energy, Roy Morgan and Hume Bank. These firms have access to Acurus’ managed service offerings, SD-WAN and Cyber Security Services.

Acquisition details

• As per the ASX, consideration for the acquisition is AU$15 million. This includes AU$12 million in cash and AU$3 million in Superloop shares.
• Also, the vendors will be entitled to 'earn out' payments. These payments though, are subject to meeting certain stretch targets like EBITDA performance and operational milestones of the business. These are capped at AU$20 million, including up to AU$4 million in Superloop shares.
• The acquisition will be funded from Superloop's existing cash reserves and placement capacity under the Listing Rules.
• Superloop expects to complete the acquisition in July 2022.
• The acquisition of Acurus is expected to be immediately accretive to Superloop in FY 2023.
• The acquisition, which includes both the Acurus Anex white label platform and the company's Managed Services Provider (MSP) business, is consistent with Superloop's strategy to build scale as a challenger provider of integrated telco services in the Australian market.
• Customers on the Acurus white label platform will be able to leverage Superloop’s high-speed network.

Tyler also stated that now customers can use Acurus’ expertise for integrated white label services combined with Superloop's high-speed infrastructure-on-demand platform and network assets.

As per the ASX release, the acquisition would also aid Superloop in delivering returns to shareholders. The recent sales of Hong Kong network and parts of SLC’s Singapore network have released capital that the company intends to deploy in organic growth and acquisitions, Acurus being one of them.

About Superloop

The company was founded in 2014 and got ASX-listed in 2015. Superloop claims to enable better internet for Australian homes and businesses, by enabling challenger retail brands (including Superloop and Exetel brands) to take a larger share of the market.

Superloop operates in three segments of the market: consumer connectivity, business connectivity and wholesale connectivity. All leverage Superloop’s investments in physical infrastructure assets that include fibre, subsea cables and fixed wireless, as well as Superloop’s software platforms. Hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses rely on Superloop and Exetel every day for their connectivity needs.

Share performance

At 12:51 PM AEST, the stock SLC was trading 3.797% higher at AU$0.820 per share. The stock has, however lost more than 33% in past six months.