(Adds Uniti comment, details of offer)
Oct 15 (Reuters) - Uniti Group Ltd (UWL) hiked its takeover offer for OptiComm Ltd (OPC) on Thursday to A$694.2 million ($495.38 million), nearly 3% higher than pension fund Aware Super's bid, ratcheting up the battle for the fibre infrastructure provider.
The telecom services firm announced a cash plus stock offer of A$6.67 per share for OptiComm, its third offer, coming three days after Aware Super made an improved A$6.5 offer.
OptiComm said it will back Uniti's "superior" offer. Under the revised bid, Uniti will pay A$5.2 per share in cash and 1.07 of its shares for each OptiComm share.
Aware Super did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Uniti said it will fund the improved offer by increasing its committed debt facilities by A$40 million and issuing an extra 26 million shares.
It still expects A$10 million in cost savings and double-digit boost to its earnings per share in fiscal 2020. ($1 = 1.4013 Australian dollars)
Add to My Watchlist
What is My Watchlist?