$2 Stake in Company Leads to $785,000 Offer
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Council has voted to accept an offer of $785,714 for its shares in a phone company set up by a network of local councils at a cost of $2 each under the Federal Government’s Networking the Nation scheme in 2002.
AGL Energy Limited made an offer of $27.5m to the 35 stakeholders for Southern Phone which meant Council would receive $785,714 for its original investment of $2.
The most recent valuation on the Southern Phone shares was $544,163 so the sale would net Council a profit of $241,551.
“It’s a very good return on the original cost of $2,” said Andrew Beswick, Council’s Director Business Services.
“We’ve been receiving dividends from Southern Phone since 2007 and we’ve had a total to date of $512,371.”
The Southern Phone Board had unanimously recommended that shareholders accept the AGL offer.