Brookfield ups Cincinnati Bell offer to USD14.50 per share, matching new Macquarie bid

Canada’s Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has increased its takeover offer for regional US telco Cincinnati Bell from USD13.50 per share to USD14.50 per share, as it seeks to keep pace with rival suitor Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA), which has also tabled a USD14.50 per share bid. The revised transaction represents an 88% premium to the closing per share price of USD7.72 on 20 December 2019 (i.e. the last trading day prior to the date when the original merger agreement was entered into) and values the company at USD2.849 billion. Announcing the development, the telco noted: ‘This increased price, coupled with Brookfield’s 100% equity-backed transaction, represents the best value currently available to Cincinnati Bell shareholders.’