New Zealand to Sell State Phone Company
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WELLINGTON — The New Zealand government said Thursday that it would sell the Telecom Corp. to a consortium dominated by two big U.S. telecommunications companies.
In a complex deal that will take several years to complete, Telecom will be sold for $2.5 billion ($4.25 billion Australian), the government said in a statement. The sale will be New Zealand’s biggest privatization by far.
The Labor government has met fierce opposition to a sale into foreign hands but it turned down an offer from local conglomerate Fletcher Challenge.
The American Information Technology Corp. and the Bell Atlantic Corp. will each buy just under 50% of Telecom.
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