The Uniti Group Ltd (ASX: UWL) share price is rising again on Tuesday.
In morning trade, the growing telco's shares are up 4% to $4.92.
Why is the Uniti share price rising today?
The Uniti share price is rising today after the bidding war for the telco between Morrison & Co and Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) intensified.
According to an announcement this morning, the company has received a revised indicative proposal from a consortium comprising Morrison & Co and Brookfield Infrastructure Group to acquire Uniti for cash consideration of $5.00 per share via a scheme of arrangement. This brings its offer in line with what Macquarie tabled last week.
The release notes that other than the increase in proposal price and the inclusion of Brookfield as a 50/50 partner, the terms and conditions of the revised proposal are largely the same as the previous offer revealed on 14 March.
Uniti also revealed that the Morrison/Brookfield consortium has advised that it has made significant progress in relation to both its diligence program and engagement with lenders. Importantly, the consortium has not identified anything that would indicate that it would not be able to enter into a binding scheme implementation agreement with Uniti.
What about Macquarie's offer?
At this stage, it looks to be advantage Morrison/Brookfield consortium. As part of the Morrison proposal, Uniti is unable to offer due diligence to any other suitors for four weeks even if they present a superior proposal.
Macquarie's proposal demands the granting of due diligence within four weeks, which Uniti notes is "incompatible" with the Morrison/Brookfield proposal.
As a result, after careful consideration of both proposals, the Uniti board has determined it is in the best interests of shareholders to engage with the Morrison/Brookfield consortium on its revised proposal and, thus, won't be engaging with Macquarie at this time.
Uniti will continue to update shareholders, in accordance with its continuous disclosure obligations, of further developments as they arise.
