Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance advises Interogo Holding on the acquisition of a minority stake UK fibre network CityFibre

International law firm Clifford Chance advised Interogo Holding on the acquisition of a minority interest in CityFibre, alongside joint shareholder Mubadala Investment Company. The all-equity investment into CityFibre is valued at £825 million.

CityFibre Holdings is currently owned by Antin Infrastructure and Goldman Sachs Infrastructure who undertook a competitive equity capital raise to find additional funds to assist with the funding of rollout of fibre in the UK which Interogo and Mubadala have successfully participated in.

CityFibre is the UK's largest alternative provider of wholesale fibre network infrastructure and it has pledged to invest up to £4bn to deploy a full-fibre network that would reach up to 8 million premises by 2025. Such a programme would make the company the largest independent full-fibre platform in the UK, and second only to Openreach. CityFibre is under construction or mobilised in 67 "tier-two" cities in the UK, with more than 500,000 homes currently ready for service.

This deal follows a number of significant, recent digital infrastructure investment and capital projects on which Clifford Chance has advised, as the sector continues to see increased interest from financial and infrastructure investors. The firm recently advised CDPQ on its investment in American Towers, Brookfield Infrastructure on its investment in Telia Towers and Cellnex Telecom on the acquisition of the European telecommunications tower assets of CK Hutchison Holdings.

Clifford Chance's multidisciplinary team was led by Partner Toby Parkinson with support from Senior Associate Jonathan Dillon, Associate Mark Inkester and Lewis Barton. TMT advice was provided by Partner Andre Duminy, Senior Associate Mark Fisher and Associate Hannah Collins. Partner Nick Mace and Senior Associate Ed Page supported on Tax.