Quote:
Originally Posted by Chrysalis
It isnt fantasy though, and they dont have 22 billion of debt.
There seems to be a ideology that we must stick with VM and OR, and that the efforts to bring new companies in to the mix are a bad idea. If CityFibre and Netomnia combine they will survive and be around for a while. But more importantly this will be a better deal for the consumer, and increase competition.
I would say this VM deal needs blocking no matter what. It simply cannot be allowed to happen, unless VMO2 is forced to not be part of NexFibre. Meaning its a genuine new player like CityFibre is.
So even if Cityfibre didnt merge with Netomnia its preferable to keep Netomnia as it is than to let VMO2 get its grubby hands on it.
So either block the deal, and see what happens with Cityfibre, or approve the deal on the condition VMO2 sells its shares first.
The suggestion that CMA should throw its remit out the window because VMO2 is preferred as a political choice because the brand is established, we may as well not even have a regulator, if that takes priority.
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You say it's 'preferable to keep Netomnia as it is'. However the owners, like Advencap, DigitalBridge, and Soho Square Capital, do not agree with you. These private equity funds operate on 4-7-year investment cycles and, having invested in Netomnia since 2019-2020, it's now the time to bail out. You have to admire the deal they got for a heavily indebted operator which needs billions more to double its network passing 3+ million homes: £2 billion Enterprise Value! Nobody else would agree to pay much that including CityFibre (in crisis), large sovereign wealth and private equity infrastructure funds (no wholesale anchor tenant, high cost of capital) and BT (regulatory prohibition).