CityFibre resumes £200m TalkTalk, FibreNation acquisition deal
CityFibre has reportedly reconvened talks with TalkTalk for the sale of its UK wholesale fibre carrier, FibreNation for approximately £200 million.
According to Sky News, the previously suspended talks are back on and as discussions are at an advanced stage, a deal could be agreed as soon as some time this month.
The negotiations previously fell apart due to the Labour Party’s pledge to nationalise the UK’s broadband network, including BT’s Openreach, and offer internet to all, should it win the 2019 general elections. The news of its intentions to do so sent much of the industry into shock.
At the time TechUK, an industry lobbyist group said that the renationalisation of Openreach would stall broadband investment from private companies. Additionally, BT CEO Philip Jansen said that the Labour Party’s £20 billion projected cost of its nationalisation plan citing closer to £40 billion. At time BT’s share fell 4%.
Now that Labour lost out to the Conservatives in the last general election, TalkTalk has been discussions with the likes of John Laing Group about acquiring FibreNation but from reports it has opted to further talks with Cityfibre, a venture part-owned by the Wall Street bank Goldman Sachs.
Under the proposed deal with CityFibre, the Goldman-backed company will take full control of FibreNation, with TalkTalk receiving a cash payment and signing a long-term agreement to be a customer of the business.
If the deal goes through TalkTalk will use the funds to pay down its debts while CityFibre will leverage the company’s assets to increase its target of connection five million home to full-fibre broadband to eight million.
CityFibre announced plans to deliver Gigabit fibre broadband to up to five million homes back in 2017 as part of its £500 million partnership with Vodafone UK. Under the terms of the wholesale agreement, Vodafone will have the right to a period of exclusivity that will allow the telco to market consumer broadband services on the FTTP network.
Since then the collaboration between has turned sour with CityFibre attempting to break its deal with Vodafone on the grounds that it is at risk of losing out on lucrative contracts due to the exclusivity clause and is now asking for concessions from Vodafone.
source capacitymedia
Industry: Telecommunications
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