KCOM’s proposed £504m sale to the Universities Superannuation Scheme Limited (USSL) looks dead after Macquarie tabled a better £563m offer.
The Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund (MEIF) is managed by Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets, in turned owned by the Macquarie Group, the Australian multinational investment bank.
But despite its apparent interest in KCOM's extensive East Yorkshire broadband network and business services division, it is unrelated to Macquarie Telecom Group, which provides a variety of voice, data and cloud services to public and private sector customers in Australia.
But the MEIF has a track record in telecommunications investment, having paid around US$6bn to acquire Scandinavian telco TDC in April 2018. It also owns a 25% stake in UK communications infrastructure firm Arqiva, in addition to a controlling interest in Poland-based fibre-to-the-home broadband provider INEA.
The new highest bidder is now under the stewardship of recently appointed ex-BT chief executive Graham Sutherland. KCOM watchers will be waiting to see if his plans include keeping the business whole or breaking it up into separate operational or sellable segments. After all, that's what investment firms often do.
