AGL Energy considered acquiring Vocus Group

AGL Energy has confirmed the report from the Australian Financial Review of its intentions to acquire the Vocus Group.

In a document filed with the ASX, AGL said it had recently contacted Vocus with a confidential, non-binding offer in order to access due diligence materials and decide whether to make a binding offer.

This was in response to the AFR story published the night before revealing AGL was considering to "step into the telecommunications sector via the acquisition of Vocus".

AGL has since withdrawn its offer after being "unable to agree to due diligence terms that were acceptable".

The energy and gas provider had previously flagged it was "assessing growth opportunities" in order to offer customers solutions that meet their increasingly connectivity needs.

As reported earlier this week, Vocus is once again considering acquisition offers, having most recently received an acquisition proposal from private equity firm, EQT Infrastructure in a deal valued at $3.26 billion.

The indicative proposal will be subjected to a number of conditions including due diligence to EQT’s satisfaction; securing committed financing; unanimous recommendation from the Vocus board and a mutually acceptable scheme of arrangement, which will be subjected to further conditions.

This is not the first time Vocus receives takeover offers: In July 2017 Vocus found itself at the centre of a bidding war after the company received an acquisition proposal from Asian private equity firm, Affinity Equity Partners.

This followed Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR) plans to acquire Vocus Group, which were revealed a month earlier, with the US-based private equity firm tabling a $2.1 billion-buyout proposal.