Private equity biz Macquarie to swallow KCOM
The battle for ownership of KCOM, the East Yorkshire-based broadband provider and slinger of clouds, has finally ended with private equity investor Macquarie on top.
The five-day auction closed on Friday with subsidiary firm Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 6 SCSp (MEIF6) lodging an offer of 120.3 pence per share, taking the valuation to £627m.
KCOM directors, advised by Rothschild & Co, said the terms of the MEIF6 bid were "fair and reasonable" and recommended "unanimously that KCOM shareholders vote in favour"
The price is 66 per cent higher than the closing trade value of KCOM's shares of 72.5 pence each when the company first attracted interest some months back.
Humber Bidco, a subsidiary of the UK's largest hedge fund, the Universities Superannuation Scheme Ltd (USSL), made the initial approach to KCOM with an offer of 97 pence per share on 24 April, which valued the company at £504m.
The tale took another turn in early June when Macquarie showed its hand, throwing in a rival offer of 108 pence per share, taking the total to £563m.
However, in the absence of either suitor declaring their offer final, management at KCOM organised a sales auction to flush out the one that was willing to dig deeper with something more definitive.
The toing and froing didn't heat up until Friday, 12 July, when USSL went to 113 pence per share, before being trumped by Macquarie, which already has business interests in the locale including Race Bank Offshore Wind Farm off the coast of Grimsby.
So what does Macquarie get for its investment? In fiscal '18, KCOM reported revenue of £301.89m, versus £331.3m in the prior financial year.
The unit that sells broadband to 140,000 businesses and consumers in Hull and East Yorkshire hauled in £104.2m, up 1.9 per cent. This part of the business also sells mobility services, and wholesale services to other broadband providers.
Enterprise – consulting, design, contact centre-as-a-service, managed, cloud and support services – dipped 2.5 per cent to £88.28m. Customers include HMRC, Bupa and Jaguar Land Rover and Rail Delivery Group.
However, it was the legacy SME National Network Services – connectivity services such as WAN, call management services and provision of the Health and Social Care Network – where the pain was felt most as revenue crashed by 20 per cent to £113.2m.
Profit for the year was £36.4m versus £32.75m.
As Megabuyte pointed out this morning, Hull and East Yorkshire is by far the most profitable area of KCOM, and with this in mind, Macquarie will seek to further develop the fibre portfolio to "include greater third party ISP access", and likely review the Enterprise and Network Services area with an option to sell them.
source theregister
Industry: Unified Communications & Telecommunications
Latest Jobs
-
- SPLUNK SOC Analyst level 3, London.
- London
- N/A
-
SPLUNK SOC Analyst level 3, Must be able to commute to the City of London. Onsite role. Security clearance needed. The SPLUNK SOC Analyst level 3 must have current experience working within a SOC environment with specific experience using a range of tools and techniques to investigate security incidents. Current experience with Splunk is essential. any additional experience Individuals with Elastic Security SIEM are highly desirable. Any of the following certifications are desirable Splunk Phantom certified admin, Splunk Core Certified Power User / Advanced, Splunk Certified Enterprise Security Admin, etc The role will include, but not be limited to working with sophisticated information security tools, investigating security incidents, incident management, technical escalation, process improvement, research into the latest threats, reporting etc The individual MUST currently be living in the UK and be able to achieve UK security clearance. (SC) This is a permanent role To arrange a call with Chris Holt https://calendly.com/chris-holt/arranged-call-with-chris-holt-elastic-siem-engineer-soc Chris.Holt@dclsearch.com
-
- ISO 27001 & Business Continuity Security Specialist, End User
- United Kingdom
- 70000
-
CH7828 ISO 27001 & Business Continuity Security Specialist, End User, £70,000 United Kingdom ISO 27001 & Business Continuity Security Specialist needed to join a Cyber team within an end user. The ISO 27001 & Business Continuity Security Specialist will have end to end responsibility for the information security and Business Continuity management system. ISMS/BCMS. Both from an information security and technical security perspective working alongside the CISO. Experience must include, but not be limited to; a mix of Information Security standards, frameworks, audit principles, controls / policies and the management and use of the technical tooling to achieve compliance. ISO 22301, ISO 27001, NIST Cybersecurity Framework etc An ideal candidate will be working within an end user environment with a cyber consultancy background. Experience taking a company through accreditation is highly desirable Experience managing internal stakeholders, technical teams and external third parties essential Flexible working, very occasional travel to London office This is an exclusive role to DCL Search & Selection. Looking to interview immediately. https://calendly.com/chris-holt/iso-27001-business-continuity-security-specialis
-
- PCI- DSS Security Consultant, End User
- London
- £70,000
-
PCI- DSS Security Consultant needed to join a Cyber team within an end user. The PCI- DSS Security Consultant will have end to end responsibility for PCI - DSS and its continuing certification. Both from an information security and technical security perspective working alongside the CISO. Experience must include, but not be limited to; a mix of Information Security standards, frameworks, audit principles, controls / policies and the management and use of the technical tooling to achieve compliance. PCI objectives / 12 key requirements, OWASP top 10, ISO 27001, NIST Cybersecurity Framework etc An ideal candidate will be working within an end user environment with a cyber consultancy background. PCI Cloud compliance, specifically someone with experience taking PCI-DSS from on premise into the cloud is HIGHLY desired. However, someone with Solid PCI experience with a strong technical background which include Cyber / Secure by design etc would be considered. Experience managing internal stakeholders and external third parties essential. Flexible working, but with the ability to get into London. This is an exclusive role to DCL Search & Selection. 1st stage interviews to happen the week of the 14th September Arrange a call with Chris on https://calendly.com/chris-holt/arrange-a-call-chris-dcl-pci-compliance
-
- IAM Contractor CyberArk
- Unknown
- N/A
-
Identity & Access Management Architect Contractor Flexible • Extensive PAM / IAM experience required, • MUST have CyberArk and or Beyondtrust. Privileged access management • Technical review, recommendation, design and hands on technical delivery. • 6 month contract Arrange a call with Chris Holt https://calendly.com/chris-holt/arranged-call-with-chris-holt?month=2020-09