Government's $15.5 billion Telstra sale bonanza

Stuart Corner
Monday, 20 November 2006 12:03

IT Industry - Deals

Strong demand from institutional investors has seen the government increase the number of Telstra shares offered for sale in the T3 tranche to 4.3 billion, raising almost double the $8 billion envisaged when T3 details were announced earlier this year.

The issue is Australia's largest since the $16 billion T2 offer in 1999. The price for the shares has been set at $3.70 to be paid as $2.10 upfront and the balance in 18 months time. Retail investors will get a 10 percent discount and will have to pay only $2.00 upfront. These instalment receipts listed on the Australian Stock Exchange at 11.30 am, Monday 20 November with brokers expecting record turnover.  Shortly before close of trade 500 million Telstra options (ASX: TSLCA) had changed hands with the price reaching $2.18.

Strong demand from retail investors meant that existing shareholders who had applied for more than 10,000 shares had their application scaled down. New shareholders applying for more than 5000 shares were treated similarly. At the end of the day, 60 percent went to retial investors, 28 percent to Australian institutions and 12 percent to overseas institutions.

The Government  will transfer in January the balance of its 50.1 percent shareholder not sold in T3 into the Future Fund, a vehicle set up to fund the government's liability for the superannuation of public servants. As a result of the increase in shares offloaded in T3, the Future Fund will nowhold just 2.2 billion shares representing 17 percent of Telstra's capital instead of the 35 percent originally envisaged. Telstra said that T3 had increased its shareholder base by 100,000 taking the total number of individual shareholders to 1.65 million, 10 percent of the adult population.

Finance Minister, Nick Minchin, said the success of T3 had been underpinned by the extensive international investor roadshow undertaken by senior Telstra executives,. According to Telstra, seven Telstra executives presented with the T3 advisory team at 45 business meetings in five Australian cities, and an additional 101 business meetings in 18 overseas cities.

T3 also brings to an end a century of Government control of Australia's main telecommunications services provider. Telstra started life as part of the Postmaster General's Department and was split off as the Australian Telecommunications Commission (Telecom Australia) in 1975. It became a corporation in 1989. In 1991 it was merged with the government owned monopoly international services provider, the Overseas Telecommunication Corporation (OTC) and renamed Telstra Corporation. The Government owned domestic satellite monopoly, Aussat was sold to the first full service competitor to Telstra, Optus.