West Berkshire: Gigaclear investment to help bring superfast broadband to the area
Gigaclear has secured an additional £24 million in new equity to accelerate the build of new Fibre-To-The-Premises (FTTP) networks delivering world-class ultrafast broadband, one of its three current contracts being to deliver superfast services to homes and businesses in West Berkshire.
Led by Infracapital and Woodford Investment Management, the investment was fully subscribed by Gigaclear’s existing shareholders, and takes the value of Gigaclear to £115m.
This new equity investment follows hard on the heels of the €2m EIB loan facility announced in January, the largest amount the EIB has awarded to any UK business under the InnovFin initiative. It puts Gigaclear in an even stronger position to build more new networks.
Gigaclear builds completely new pure fibre networks that bring high quality, fast and reliable broadband connectivity to the UK’s rural population. It offers customers speeds up to 1Gbps, 30 times the UK average, via fibre optic cable all the way to each property in areas typically underserved by the existing large broadband providers.
The company has already built and operates 60 rural fibre networks, and has a strong pipeline with a further 25 in construction. It targets a market of 1.5 million households and businesses across thousands of rural communities seeking ultrafast and reliable broadband.
Ed Clarke, co-founder and director of Infracapital, said: “We are delighted to continue our support for Gigaclear as it accelerates its growth rate and strengthens its presence in the market. Having successfully secured several BDUK contracts and completed this round of fund raising, the business is well placed to deliver its 2016 roll-out plans.”
Matthew Hare, chief executive of Gigaclear, said: “We are building to tens of thousands of potential new customers this year. The strong financial support of our shareholders lets us get on with the job of delivering Britain’s best future-proof broadband without delay.”
Gigaclear was advised in this transaction by Cameron Barney LLP.
