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CMS acts on £200 million placing, up to £15m offer for subscription and acquisition of Entanet by AIM-listed CityFibre Infrastructure Holdings PLC

6 July 2017

CMS is acting for long-standing client CityFibre Infrastructure Holdings PLC (“CityFibre”) on its £200m placing, which has been fully underwritten by Citigroup Global Markets Limited, Macquarie Capital (Europe) Limited, Liberum Capital Limited and finnCap Ltd, and non-underwritten offer for subscription to raise further gross proceeds of up to £15m. The placing was structured as a firm placing and accelerated bookbuild.

CityFibre is a designer, builder, operator and owner of fibre optic infrastructure in UK towns and cities. The net proceeds of the capital raising will be used to fund the growth of CityFibre’s full fibre network in the UK, including:

  • the expansion of CityFibre’s full fibre metro networks from 42 UK towns and cities today to not less than 50 towns and cities by 2020;
  • the commencement of construction of Fibre to the Home (“FTTH”), addressing the residential market, in five to ten UK towns and cities during 2018; and
  • the acquisition of Entanet, an established provider of wholesale communications services, for a consideration of approximately £29 million in cash.

The acquisition of Entanet, which has approximately 1,500 channel partners having conducted business with it in the 12 months ending 31 December 2016, will substantially increase CityFibre’s wholesale capabilities and its relationships with service providers, thereby accelerating take-up over CityFibre’s network footprints.

The CMS team is being led by client relationship and corporate partner Paul Blackmore, assisted by, on the capital raising, corporate partners Rob Willis and Alasdair Steele, corporate senior associate Nicole Gyring-Nielsen, associates Sarah Wilson and David Wood and trainee Aisling O’Dwyer, and on the acquisition of Entanet, corporate partner Katie Nagy de Nagybaczon, corporate associates Jamie Larkin and Dan Bomsztyk and corporate trainee Ricardo Masferra, along with commercial of counsel Laurence Kalman and commercial associate Caroline Cooper; tax partner Mark Joscelyne, senior associate (barrister) Robert Sartor and tax trainee Tom Simpson; employment senior associate Sara Gill; banking partner Julian Turner and banking associate Edward Fuller; real estate senior associate Maria Demetriou; pensions senior associate Mark Kowalik; and IP associate Mike Walsh. The underwriting banks are being advised by Norton Rose Fulbright and the sellers of Entanet by Gowlings WLG.

Commenting on the deal, Greg Mesch, Chief Executive Officer of CityFibre, said:

“We are building Gigabit Britain, driven by growing demand from Internet Service Providers and their customers to switch to full-fibre infrastructure. With Entanet now part of the CityFibre family, our combined offering will accelerate the take-up of services over our growing network footprints, leveraging Entanet’s enviable channel partner network and continuing to transform digital connectivity for thousands of UK businesses.

Today’s capital raising also better positions CityFibre to undertake larger projects coming forward with the public sector as well as mobile operators in readiness for their small-cell roll-outs and 5G services.”

CMS Corporate partner Paul Blackmore added:

“We are delighted to have advised CityFibre on another transformative transaction as it continues to build its fibre network across the UK. This fundraising and acquisition demonstrates investor confidence in a UK communications infrastructure business and an exciting opportunity for CityFibre to expand and accelerate its network, channels to market and product portfolio.”