Telecom New Zealand intends to make a takeover offer for the 20 per cent of shares in AAPT that it does not already own.
Theresa Gattung, Telecom NZ chief executive, said in a statement that the company's wholly-owned Australian subsidiary TNZ Australia will offer minority shareholders $7.25 in cash for each AAPT share.
Telecom NZ said the offer price represents a 23.5 per cent premium to the volume weighted average trading price of the shares over the three months ending August 14, 2000.
The offer will be subject to a number of conditions.
Industry rumours have recently linked Telecom NZ to a regional alliance involving Japan's mobile communications powerhouse NTT DoCoMo and Australia's Cable & Wireless Optus, and also the US telco MCI WorldCom.
The cost to Telecom NZ of acquiring all minority shares in AAPT will be around $444 million (excluding executive share options), and it will be funded by additional borrowing which can be accommodated on the Telecom NZ group balance sheet.