Quantum Strategic Partners, the private investment vehicle managed by Soros Fund Management, is exploring a full or partial sale of its stake in British pure fibre provider Hyperoptic, according to The Telegraph. The paper reports that Quantum Strategic Partners has hired investment bank LionTree to oversee any potential sale at a time when Hyperoptic is looking to scale its operations, having pledged to invest GBP500 million (USD617 million) in its infrastructure over the next three years. Last year, Hyperoptic secured a cash injection from Abu Dhabi’s investment arm Mubadala Investment Company in addition to GBP250 million in debt funding generated from a consortium of eight banks, including BNP Paribas, ING, RBS, Societe Generale and Barclays.
Hyperoptic’s network currently covers more than 50 towns and cities across the UK, while the company is aiming to pass a total of two million homes by 2021 and five million by 2024. Meanwhile, in November 2018 the operator unveiled its ‘Hyper Cities’ rollout programme, which it said would entail the ‘extensive deployment of over 5,000km metro fibre network using DPA (duct and pole access) by 2021 as a key component to the aggressive full fibre deployment plan’. Initial cities will include Greater London, Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Liverpool and Leeds in 2019, with another ten cities to be covered in 2020.