SYDNEY, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Australia's Transfield Services Ltd TSE.AX said on Monday it has been named preferred tenderer for a contract to run the country's offshore immigration detention centres, sending its shares sharply higher.
The company said in a statement that the contract would see it operate the Australian immigration detention centres on the Pacific island nation of Nauru and on Papua New Guinea's Manus Island for another five years.
The company's shares rose 5 percent in early trading after it issued the statement, while the broader sharemarket fell 1.5 percent.