Telstra Sells Computershare Stake for A$160 Mln (Update1)
By Mathew Carr
Melbourne, June 27 (Bloomberg) -- Telstra Corp., Australia's largest phone company, sold its remaining 4.9 percent stake in Computershare Ltd. for A$160 million ($83 million).
The sale of Telstra's 26.6 million shares in Australia's biggest share registry resulted in a A$61.4 million profit from the stake, the Melbourne-based company said in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange.
The shares were sold at A$6 each, a 24 percent discount to the average trading price of Computershare during the past year.
Melbourne-based Telstra once held 15 percent of Computershare, and has realized a total pretax profit of A$253 million from selling it, said Telstra spokeswoman Jane Sullivan.
Last March Melbourne-based Computershare said its first-half earnings rose 76 percent to A$18.3 million as it increased its customers in the U.K. Sales rose 94 percent to A$339 million.
Credit Suisse First Boston handled the sale of Telstra's Computershare stake to mainly large investors, 65 percent of which were from Australia, with the remainder offshore, including New Zealand, said CSFB spokesman Rod Metcalfe.
Telstra fell 9 cents, or 1.6 percent, to A$5.42. Computershare rose 4 cents, or 0.6 percent, to A$6.14. |
