CityFibre is one of dozens of alternative network providers, or altnets, that have been laying fibre lines, taking advantage of the slow pace at which monopoly BT was upgrading its network from copper. Over the past two years, as BT and Virgin Media O2 have significantly accelerated their fibre rollout, the battle between these challenger companies and the incumbents has intensified. It is a Goldman Sachs-backed telecoms company laying broadband lines in the UK.
The company has now secured £4.9b n in debt finance from a consortium of banks and investors, in one of the largest ever financings by a fibre company. The company said the debt package would finance its rollout of fibre infrastructure to 8mn homes and enable it to participate in the government’s Project Gigabit scheme to reach rural homes.
The debt raise has been underwritten by NatWest, Société Générale, Crédit Agricole, BBVA, Intesa Sanpaolo, ING and SEB, with ABN Amro, Lloyds Bank and asset manager M&G joining as core lenders.
The financing follows £1.13 bn in equity investments CityFibre closed in the past 10 months from Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala and Switzerland-based Interogo Holding, as well as from existing investors Antin Infrastructure Partners and Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s infrastructure business.
