Macquarie-owned Taiwan Broadband gathers investors for IPO
Eight cornerstone investors have been lined up to take nearly one third of pay-TV operator Taiwan Broadband Communications’ Singapore IPO. The offering will allow two Macquarie funds that own Taiwan Broadband to exit their holdings.
The funds will inject their stakes into a new entity, Asian Pay Television Trust, which is looking to raise S$1.4 billion ($1.1 billion). It has signed up insurance companies, long-only funds and hedge funds as cornerstone investors, The Wall Street Journal reported. Institutional investors will start placing orders for shares this week and the company is expected to list by the end of May.
Singapore-listed Macquarie International Infrastructure Fund (MIIF) wants to sell its entire 47.5% interest for no less than S$469.5 million, which equates to a valuation of S$0.408 per share, according to a regulatory filing. The fund took a 20% stake in Taiwan Broadband for $161.8 million in 2007, plus an additional sum in senior debt. It took its holding to 47.5% in 2011 and puts the full cost of acquisition at S$479.2 million.
Macquarie Korea Opportunities Fund paid A$392 million (then $367 million) for a 60% stake in the company in 2008 but subsequently reduced its holding. The stake was bought from Macquarie Media Group, which completed a full buyout of Taiwan Broadband three years earlier in partnership with Macquarie Bank. The $883 million deal included about $375 million in debt.
The seller was The Carlyle Group, which bought a majority interest in the company in 1999 and used its as a consolidation platform for cable TV stations.
Taiwan Broadband has stakes in five cable TV networks in northern and central Taiwan, with a network of more than one million households. The company also provides broadband internet services.
J.P. Morgan, DBS Group, CIMB Group and Macquarie are joint lead managers for the IPO, which is likely to be Singapore's second-largest offering of the year, following the $1.3 billion float of Temasek Holdings-controlled Mapletree Investments, a China-focused real estate investment trust, in March.
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