Singtel Said to Tap BofA for Pursuit of Australia's Amaysim

(Bloomberg) -- Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., Southeast Asia’s largest telecom services provider, is moving ahead with examining a possible bid for wireless operator Amaysim Australia Ltd., people with knowledge of the matter said.

The company is working with Bank of America Corp. to assess options for investing in Sydney-based Amaysim, the people said, asking not to be identified because the process is private. The appointment was made in the last two weeks, according to one of the people.

A deal for Amaysim, which leases the wireless network owned by the Singapore carrier’s local subsidiary, would give Singtel access to the operator’s more than 1.1 million mobile subscribers. Shares of Amaysim jumped as much as 19 percent in Tuesday trading, the biggest intraday gain in two years. They were up 12 percent at the close in Sydney, giving the company a market value of A$212 million ($156 million).

Singtel hasn’t decided how large a stake it would eventually seek in Amaysim, the people said. Deliberations are at an early stage, and there’s no certainty they will result in a bid, they said. Representatives for Singtel and Bank of America declined to comment, while a spokesman for Amaysim said he couldn’t immediately comment.

Local subsidiary Singtel Optus Pty reported net income fell 3.5 percent in the quarter through June to A$154 million. Its wireless revenue rose 7.9 percent after Optus added customers during the period, though the average revenue per user fell amid competition on data prices.

Amaysim was one of the first Australian operators to offer unlimited national talk and text mobile plans, according to its website. It bought a local internet provider in 2016 to enter the broadband market and expanded into energy services last year.

--With assistance from Livia Yap.

To contact the reporters on this story: Joyce Koh in Singapore at jkoh38@bloomberg.net;Brett Foley in Melbourne at bfoley8@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Scent at bscent@bloomberg.net, Timothy Sifert

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