Broadband bid from Acacia backed by ANZ

National Broadband Network (NBN) bidder Acacia, which has been tipped as the $10 billion plus projects surprise front runner, is now being advised by the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group.

A heavyweight team of advisers including Deutsche Bank have been assembled by Acacia, a secretive, bidding vehicle based in Melbourne and led by the former boss of Telstra Countrywide, Doug Campbell.

In order to search out methods for acacia to raise debt, ANZ have taken on the project finance advisory role. Vendor finance from the suppliers of Acacia’s equipment like Juniper, Fujitsu and Nokia Siemens Networks were one of the additional funding options advised by Deutsche.

The NBN project, which will have the backing of as much as $4.6 billion in taxpayers’ money, is something that many observers in the industry are increasingly certain that Acacia is set to win.

Until recently Singapore Telecommunications’ Optus had been a firm favourite but since the expert panel had reported its recommendation on the bids in late January to Stephen Conroy, the Communications Minister, there had been limited discussion between the Optus and the government.

It has now been over three weeks since senior minister discussed the NBN and a full cabinet sign off on the decision has yet to take place.

The eventual outcome of the decision is continuing to cause a lot of confusion. Many sources suggest that a full tender may follow yet, which would take into account the expected regulatory changes that will brought to light during next month announcement, as the bit have currently been made as a response to the governments “request for proposal”.

The pooling of resources by the three national broadband proposals has yet to be ruled out, however, unlike the Singapore-owned Optus and Canada’s Axia Netmedia the most politically attractive is Acacia because it is Australian-owned.