That's a wrap: amaysim calls time with sale to Optus in $250m deal

Two months after selling its energy business, small cap amaysim (ASX:AYS) is doing the same for its mobile business.

amaysim announced this morning that its board “unanimously recommends” the sale to Optus, in a $250m cash deal.

Conditions for the sale will be subject to the approval of amaysim shareholders, at an AGM scheduled for January.

amaysim said the sale will unlock around $207.2m to $225.7m in value for shareholders (after costs).

That amount effectively values the company between 67c to 73c. Shares in AYS were trading at the upper end of that range this morning at 73.5c.

If approved, cash from the deal will be distributed to shareholders.

And at that point, amaysim will call time on its life as a listed provider of mobile phone (and previously energy) plans to consumers.

That’s a wrap

Today’s announcement comes two months after amaysim sold its energy division to Australian electricity provider AGL Energy (ASX:AGL) for $115m.

While AGL said it would be able to use its market size to extract more value from the business, amaysim said it would focus on its mobile business following a period of increased price competition.

The company also flagged a tender for additional network providers to join its service agreement with Optus which expires in 2022.

However, now Optus has agreed to buy the company outright.

In discussing the strategic rationale for the deal, amaysim’s board said the company had reached an “inflection point”.

In that context, it had two options – sign up for a long-term deal with a strategic wholesale partner, or sell the business outright.

After “robust negotiations”, amaysim’s board said a sale of the business would provide more certainty for shareholders, while allowing Optus to extract more value out of the business.

The company will provide transitional services to Optus for a period of around three months, and “then commence delisting from the ASX and subsequent winding up”, it said.

After listing in July 2015, shares in amaysim reached a high of almost $3 in 2016 before gradually declining.

In recent years, the company has increasingly been linked to takeover rumours, including from Singapore-based telco Singtel.

The stock bottomed out at around 25c in the COVID-19 selloff before climbing steadily on talk of asset sales.