A vast Abu Dhabi-based fund is ploughing another £300m into CityFibre, Britain’s biggest independent provider of full-fibre broadband infrastructure.
Sky News has learnt that Mubadala Investment Company, one of the Gulf’s biggest sovereign wealth funds, has agreed to inject the sum into the London-headquartered company.
An announcement about the new capital injection, which will help accelerate the rollout of CityFibre’s full-fibre lines across the UK, could come as early as Monday, according to one insider.
It will take the total amount of equity raised by CityFibre in the last six months to more than £1.4bn, in what is understood to be Britain’s largest ever capital-raising for broadband infrastructure.
Mubadala, which is acquiring the shares through its digital infrastructure investments team, made an initial commitment of £500m as part of a broader capital-raising last September.
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The earlier deal also included participation from Interogo Holding, the investment arm of the group which owns the IKEA retail franchise.
Industry sources said the latest investment in CityFibre represented a vote of confidence in the company’s strategy and management at a time of fierce competition for capital in the sector.
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They added that the new funding would enable the company’s participation in the ‘Project Gigabit’ rural programme being overseen by Building Digital UK.
CityFibre has also been engaged in talks in recent weeks about a separate refinancing of its debt.
The company, which includes an arm of the Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs among its other shareholders, is the largest of the alternative network providers vying to swallow a large share of the crucial market for telecoms infrastructure across the country.
It has embarked on a £4bn programme of investment targeting the provision of superfast broadband to eight million homes by 2025.
CityFibre is now engaged in work spanning 285 cities, towns and villages throughout Britain, and has already rolled its service out to 1.5 million homes.
The company says that once completed, its network will also serve approximately 800,000 businesses, 400,000 public sector sites and 250,000 5G access points.
It has agreements with Vodafone, TalkTalk, Zen and a growing number of other internet services providers across the country to sell services over its networks.
BT’s Openreach division – which operates at arm’s length from the former state monopoly – and Virgin Media are the two biggest players in the industry.
They, and dozens of smaller providers, are racing to replace slower copper lines with full-fibre networks capable of delivering data and content at much greater speeds.
Nevertheless, there are growing concerns among industry observers that the smaller players will struggle to gain sufficient scale to compete, with expectations that many of them will need to merge or find a buyer.
The two countries announced a multibillion pound sovereign investment partnership last year focused on sectors such as life sciences and infrastructure.
CityFibre is run by Greg Mesch, its chief executive, and chaired by Steve Holliday, the former National Grid boss.
It has outlined plans to create 11,000 jobs over the next three years to deliver its expansion plans.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 100 points in late-morning trading, helped by strength in base metal and utility stocks, while U.S. stock markets were mixed.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 103.40 points at 24,542.48.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 192.31 points at 42,932.73. The S&P 500 index was up 7.14 points at 5,822.40, while the Nasdaq composite was down 9.03 points at 18,306.56.
The Canadian dollar traded for 72.61 cents US compared with 72.44 cents US on Tuesday.
The November crude oil contract was down 71 cents at US$69.87 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down eight cents at US$2.42 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$7.20 at US$2,686.10 an ounce and the December copper contract was up a penny at US$4.35 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 200 points in late-morning trading, while U.S. stock markets were also headed higher.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 205.86 points at 24,508.12.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 336.62 points at 42,790.74. The S&P 500 index was up 34.19 points at 5,814.24, while the Nasdaq composite was up 60.27 points at 18.342.32.
The Canadian dollar traded for 72.61 cents US compared with 72.71 cents US on Thursday.
The November crude oil contract was down 15 cents at US$75.70 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down two cents at US$2.65 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was down US$29.60 at US$2,668.90 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents at US$4.47 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 11, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was little changed in late-morning trading as the financial sector fell, but energy and base metal stocks moved higher.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 0.05 of a point at 24,224.95.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 94.31 points at 42,417.69. The S&P 500 index was down 10.91 points at 5,781.13, while the Nasdaq composite was down 29.59 points at 18,262.03.
The Canadian dollar traded for 72.71 cents US compared with 73.05 cents US on Wednesday.
The November crude oil contract was up US$1.69 at US$74.93 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was up a penny at US$2.67 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$14.70 at US$2,640.70 an ounce and the December copper contract was up two cents at US$4.42 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 10, 2024.
