CMS advises Aviva Investors and Truespeed Communications Group Limited on merger of fibre broadband providers
CMS has advised Aviva Investors and Truespeed Communications Group Limited (TCGL) on the merger of fibre broadband providers Truespeed Communications Ltd (Truespeed) and County Broadband Ltd (County) with Freedom Fibre Limited (and its subsidiaries VX UK and LilaConnect Limited). Freedom Fibre is held by a consortium primarily owned by Infrabridge and Equitix. The merger is subject to customary regulatory clearances and is expected to complete in Q2 2026.
Truespeed and County completed a merger in December 2025, with Truespeed’s network being concentrated in the west of England, and County’s network being concentrated in East Anglia with a network of more than 177,000 premises connected. The merger with the Freedom Fibre group will create a combined group providing retail and business to business services to over 412,000 premises.
CMS Corporate Partner Danielle Heath comments: “We are delighted to have been able to support Aviva Investors and TCGL on this transaction. We acted for Aviva Investors on the original acquisitions of Truespeed and County - and the consolidation of Truespeed with Freedom Fibre is a significant development in the UK altnet sector. Aviva Investors is a key relationship for the firm and, as a long-standing relationship partner for Aviva Investors, I am proud to have worked with them on their fibre journey. We wish them the best as they look to continue to grow the combined Truespeed/Freedom Fibre group and look forward to working with them on future transactions.”
Danielle Heath led the CMS UK team, which included Joe Ladusans, Adam Fenby-Betts and Anna Ghataure (Corporate); Jason Todd, Robert Sartor and Johanna Dodgson (Tax); Katie Duffield and Francis Beechinor-Collins (Finance); and Russell Hoare, Jean-Francois Willems and Finn Potter (Competition).
