Spark recently announced contracts with Indian outsourcing giant Infosys and Nokia as part of its drive to save $80m to $100m in operating costs this financial year, including $50m in labour costs – implying a cut of around 10% of its workforce or 500 jobs.

The telco is also still on a mission – first flagged in August last year – to find an investment partner for an up-to-$1 billion push to expand its data centre operations over the next five to seven years.

The depressed sharemarket over the past 18 months has seen increased buyout interest – with Adamantem Capital and Sir Stephen Tindall teaming in a tilt to take The Warehouse Group private, several unnamed parties making non-binding offers for Rakon, a Canadian software player making an unsolicited bid for Eroad, a mystery buyer in talks with Sky TV, a Melbourne firm showing interest in Metro Performance Glass.

None of those deals came to fruition, but NZX-listed retirement village owner-operator Arvida was sold to US private equity firm Stonepeak for $1.2 billion.

Chris Keall is an Auckland-based member of the Herald’s business team. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is the technology editor and a senior business writer.