CITYFIBRE NEEDS FOR CASH TO SURVIVE – The BT rival’s debts rise above £3 billion
BT rival CityFibre has warned it must raise more money to survive as the rising cost of its broadband rollout pushed debts above £3bn.
The company, which is the largest of the so-called “alt-net” broadband firms taking on BT’s Openreach, said there was “material uncertainty” about its ability to continue because it was reliant on further external funding.
CityFibre, which is backed by Goldman Sachs and Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala, secured £4.9bn in debt financing from banks two years ago to help fund its network build.
But the funding is expected to run out by the middle of next year and CityFibre has appointed advisers at US investment bank Evercore to tap debt markets again.
Despite the warning, bosses said they were confident about raising more money, especially after announcing a major wholesale deal with Sky in August.
Cityfibre will also make use of an extra £1bn in debt as part of its previous fundraising and has more than £500m of cash available.
