Amaysim buys Optus 4G reseller for $70 million

Amaysim has acquired fellow Optus 4G reseller Vaya for $70 million.

The deal brings the Brisbane-based MVNO’s 140,000 subscribers to Amaysim, which itself has more than 700,000 users.

Amaysim will pay $5 million in cash and $15 million in shares over three tranches. The giant MVNO will also take on $50 million of Vaya’s “liabilities” to Optus, to be repaid over two years.

Vaya’s 40 employees are spread across Brisbane and its customer service centre in the Philippines. The company also has an outsourced presence in India that will continue “in the short to medium term under a transitional arrangement”.

Amaysim flagged Vaya’s Philippines’ service unit as “a great opportunity to create an overflow capacity for Amaysim and to fast-track our platform, web and app development”.

Vaya would be retained as a separate brand. According to Amaysim, most of Vaya’s subscribers are on its $18 per month plan.

“Vaya’s online-only, strong market offering in the sub-$20 market segment complements Amaysim’s ‘customer champion’ position and creates greater scale to our online-driven platform and operating network,” said Amaysim chief executive Julian Ogrin.

“This is a rare opportunity to significantly grow our number of subscribers on the same network and in a complementary market segment.”

Publicly listed Amaysim stated that the acquisition would be entirely funded from “existing cash reserves and future free cash flow”.

Amaysim floated on the ASX in July and in November hired US actor David Hasselhoff as a spokesperson.