Alternative network operator CityFibre, which has so far deployed their 2.5Gbps speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based broadband ISP network to cover 4.3 million UK premises (4.1m RFS), is reportedly close to reaching agreement on a much needed £500m equity financing deal to support its existing roll-out and fuel consolidation.
The alternative network operator currently still aspires to cover up to 8 million UK premises with their new full fibre network (funded by c.£2.4bn in equity, c.£4.9bn debt and c.£865m of BDUK / public subsidy) – representing c.30% of the UK. But their original target of hitting that by around 2025 will not be achieved, and have previously indicated a desire to boost their growth by consolidating many smaller alternative networks.
At the start of 2024 the operator signalled that, over the next two years (i.e. by the start of 2026), merger and acquisition (M&A) activity alone could theoretically add up to 1.5-3 million extra premises to their full fibre network coverage. This is on top of the 1.3m expected to be built as part of their rural focused Project Gigabit contracts. But actually delivering on all this will take a few years.
However, CityFibre’s consolidation drive has so far only been able to add a single altnet, LitFibre, since early 2024 (here), and last year’s accounts revealed a clear need for fresh funding (here). But securing fresh investment in a climate of high interest rates (i.e. rising debt repayments etc.), rising build costs and strong competition is not an easy task, much as many smaller players have already discovered.
The good news, according to a Sky News report and its sources, is that existing investors including Mubadala are allegedly in talks to provide around £500m in equity financing to the company. The refinancing deal is expected to form part of a wider balance sheet strengthening, which may also include a “substantial new debt-raise” (i.e. the overall value of both equity and debt may well be a lot more than £500m).
As part of this effort, a syndicate of CityFibre’s lenders, which is said to be led by the NatWest Group, this week appointed advisers from Lazard to assist them during talks with the company.
A CityFibre spokesperson said:
“We are financing the business from a position of strength, with the full backing of our shareholders and investors. We look forward to further expansion as we launch [Sky Broadband] across our nationwide footprint later this year.”
The operator, which recently reported having grown their live customer base by 54% in the year to total 518,000 and delivering adjusted EBITDA of £5m (up from -£55m), is expected to finalise the new funding deal in the “coming weeks“. But we also wouldn’t be at all surprised if a deal this big took until Easter or just after Easter to fully complete.
As above, the funding will enable CityFibre to continue their network expansion and to engage in a new round of consolidation.