AAPT CEO departs ahead of TPG takeover

As Telecom New Zealand finalises the sale of Australian business telecommunications company AAPT to TPG, AAPT's CEO David Yuile has announced that he will leave the company.

Telecom New Zealand announced the sale of AAPT to TPG in December last year for AU$450 million. The price was a fraction of the AU$2.2 billion that Telecom New Zealand paid for the business in 1999, but in that time, iiNet had purchased AAPT's consumer division, and AAPT's business had recorded a significant decline in revenue.

Yuile was appointed as the CEO of AAPT in 2011, after previously serving as the company's chief operating officer when AAPT acquired his former employer, Powertel, in 2007.

Yuile has since worked to transform the Australian business, with a focus on wholesale broadband services, business offerings, and its fibre networks.

TPG cited AAPT's 11,000km of fibre as part of the reason why it decided to purchase the company.

Yuile will now leave the company when the sale of AAPT to TPG is finalised on Friday. Telecom CEO Simon Mutter said that Yuile had been "instrumental in driving the transformation" of AAPT into a competitive data and internet provider.

"David and his management team have done an outstanding job during the last three years to simplify, stabilise, and shape the company," he said in a statement.

"With AAPT now performing very well and joining the TPG group, David departs with our thanks and best wishes."

Yuile said he would be taking a break to consider his options.

"I am ready for a change and it is the right time for me to consider new options," he said.

A spokesperson for Telecom New Zealand said a decision on the appointment will be up to TPG. A spokesperson for AAPT said a replacement had yet to be decided.