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CityFibre to go private in £538m Sachs-led deal
(WebFG News) - Nascent broadband network developer CityFibre has agreed to a £538m takeover by a consortium backed by Goldman Sachs, it was revealed on Tuesday, with the company claiming going private would make it easier for it to pay for its plans to build full fibre-optic infrastructure to a fifth of the UK market.
It came on a busy news day for the AIM-traded firm, which posted a set of positive results, and also gave a solid update on its fibre project being developed in conjunction with Vodafone, adding another four English and Scottish cities to those being connected.
The consortium, a joint venture between Sachs' West Street Infrastructure and the Antin private equity vehicle, would pay 81p per share for CityFibre - a 93% premium to the company's closing price on Monday.
CityFibre, which already had a number of smaller networks designed for schools, public facilities and commercial operations, signed a deal with Vodafone last year to build a gigabit fibre-optic network to 12 towns and cities in Britain, with Vodafone marketing the service.
"Under private ownership, CityFibre will be able to gain alternative and potentially easier access to the financing required for its announced fibre-to-the-home deployment," said CityFibre chairman Chris Stone.
"This will strengthen the company's ability to deliver on its vision to provide full fiber infrastructure to 20 percent of the UK market."
Both Goldman Sachs and Antin reportedly said they were keen to support CityFibre's current plans to extend fibre-optic networks across the country.