Shares in hostile takeover target TeamTalk have rallied beyond $1 as the market speculates on whether Spark will raise its 80c per share $22.7million offer.
At the outset of Spark's hostile takeover bid in early February, TeamTalk shares were around 45c, then began to gain pace and lift towards the 80c offer.
However, following an independent advisers' report on the offer, which last week put a value of between $1.52 and $2.11 on the shares, they had risen again, pushing through $1 yesterday.
Further muddying the waters of where Spark goes next was a proposal by arch rival Vodafone late last week to buy TeamTalk's rural broadband division Farmside and its 15,000 customers for up to $13million, which would go towards paying some of TeamTalk's $33.9million debt.
TeamTalk bought Farmside for $31million about five years ago. Its board is backing the Vodafone offer, subject to shareholder approval, and has repeatedly rejected Spark's $22.7million offer for all three TeamTalk divisions.
Craigs Investment Partners broker Peter McIntyre said there appeared to be ''two stories trying to unfold''.
Some investors were seeing an opportunity in buying into TeamTalk, and driving the price up.
The second was speculation on whether Spark would react and up its offer price; having responded to last week's independent valuation labelling it ''patently absurd''.
''The TeamTalk shares are substantially higher than when the offer was first made, but they're a far cry from the Grant Samuel valuation,'' Mr McIntyre said.
TeamTalk announced on Monday a shareholder meeting would be held in Wellington on April 12, over the proposed 70% sale of Farmside to Vodafone for $10million cash.
