smh article

Commander buyer punt

Investors are punting on private equity firms being the most interested of any potential buyers for the besieged small-business telecommunications operator Commander Communications.
And should that scenario eventuate, the most likely outcome would be the new owner putting Commander's IT hardware business up for sale almost straight away.

Which leaves Commander's network and voice hardware businesses to be restructured before an inevitable sale 12 months later for a sizeable profit.

Some analysts doubt Optus or AAPT would want to involve themselves in resurrecting a distressed asset given it has debts of about $300 million.

Despite this, they say Optus and other potential trade buyers would be expected to at least go through the due diligence process - if only to gain detailed information about Commander's business.

And should the likes of Optus poke their head into the data-room, it is more than likely Telstra will want to respond to its competitors' actions by doing the same.

Commander remains suspended from trading on the ASX because of failing to lodge its statutory accounts.

Edited by Matt O'Sullivan