Govt. to increase size of Telstra offer

Strong retail demand is likely to prompt the Australian government to increase the size of its share offer in incumbent carrier Telstra to around A$10bn (£4bn), according to local press reports Thursday.

The Australian government, which owns 51.8 per cent of Telstra, in understood to have received a surge of applications for the A$8bn retail offer of shares in Telstra in the past few days.

The state had previously said that the size of the offering, which initially amounted to about one third of the government’s total holding, could be increased by up to 15 per cent, depending on demand.