7th Jan 2015 07:00
For immediate release | 07 January 2015 |
CITYFIBRE INFRASTRUCTURE HOLDINGS PLC
('CityFibre' or the 'Group' or the 'Company')
CityFibre appoints EY as independent debt advisor
CityFibre Infrastructure Holdings Plc (AIM: CFHL), a leading designer, builder, owner, and operator of fibre optic infrastructure in UK towns and cities, is pleased to announce the appointment of EY as independent advisor to the Company with regard to its debt funding plans.
The Company's project pipeline has strengthened over the past twelve months and now covers all four of the strategic pillars identified at the time of the IPO:
· public sector networks, as exemplified by the York, Peterborough and Kirklees projects;
· business ISPs, with more than 20 partners and resellers active on the Company's networks today;
· FTTH, via the Company's Joint Venture with Sky and TalkTalk in York;
· fibre-to-the-tower (FTTT), where the first phase of the first deployment under a national framework agreement with major mobile network operators, in Kingston-upon-Hull, was completed in late December 2014.
The Company has thus now established a significant national opportunity across all four strategic pillars, which may over time extend CityFibre's footprint to dozens of additional UK towns and cities. Accordingly, the Board has identified debt funding as a priority issue in the ongoing capital formation of the Company, to ensure that shareholder returns are maximized.
Terry Hart, Chief Financial Officer of CityFibre, commented:
"CityFibre's growth prospects expanded considerably in 2014, and the Board is very much committed to putting in place a well-balanced capital structure which allows the Company to scale in line with these expansion opportunities. We evaluated a number of potential advisors and selected EY because of their great track record, cultural fit with our team, and focus on delivery. We're delighted to bring EY into our circle of trusted advisors."
Chris Lowe, Debt Advisory Partner, and Marc Middleton, TMT Partner at EY, commented:
"We are really pleased and excited to have been appointed as an advisor to CityFibre as it launches a programme to secure debt funding to support its growth. Given the significant progress of the Company during 2014, combined with the optionality of funding sources from the credit markets, we look forward to working with the team there as they raise debt capital in the coming months."
For further information, please contact:
CityFibre Infrastructure Holdings plc | www.cityfibre.com |
Greg Mesch, Chief Executive Officer | Tel: 0845 293 0774 |
Terry Hart, Chief Financial Officer |
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James Enck, Head of Investor Relations | Tel: 0333 150 6283 |
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finnCap (Nomad and Joint Broker) | www.finncap.com |
Stuart Andrews / Christopher Raggett (Corporate Finance) | Tel: 020 7220 0500 |
Simon Johnson (Corporate Broking) |
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Liberum (Joint Broker) | www.liberum.com |
Steve Pearce / Steven Tredget / Richard Bootle | Tel: 020 3100 2000 |
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Buchanan | www.buchanan.uk.com |
Sophie McNulty / Gabriella Clinkard | Tel: 020 7466 5000 |
EY | www.ey.com |
Chris Lowe | Tel: 020 7951 0826 |
About CityFibre:
CityFibre enables gigabit connectivity through designing, building, owning, and operating fibre optic network infrastructure. It is the largest independent provider of fibre infrastructure to mid-sized cities and major towns across the UK, providing gigabit-capable infrastructure for enterprise and public sector organisations, service providers, mobile network operators and businesses.
The Company owns and operates 490 route kilometres of local access networks serving over 800 customer locations in 60 towns and cities in the UK, including York, Coventry, Peterborough, Huddersfield, Hull, Sheffield, Newcastle, Dundee, Bath, Derby and Doncaster.
To date the Company has launched four Gigabit City projects in York, Peterborough, Coventry and Aberdeen, where city-wide pure fibre networks known as 'COREs' bring world-class Internet connectivity and the benefits of gigabit speeds to every aspect of the city's community.
CityFibre is also a proud member of a joint venture with TalkTalk and Sky. Established in early 2014, the collaboration aims to prove the viability of gigabit speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) networks and services for homes and businesses. Work is currently underway to connect tens of thousands of homes and businesses in York to a future-proof FTTP modern digital infrastructure.
CityFibre is based in London, United Kingdom, and its shares trade on the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange (AIM: CFHL).
To find out more, please visit: www.cityfibre.com
Related Shares:
Cityfibre