Infracapital agrees to acquire fibre broadband provider Fibrus

Infracapital will acquire a controlling interest in the business and provide funding for the commercial roll-out.

Fibrus was established by local Telecoms entrepreneur Dominic Kearns, and former Enet CEO, Conal Henry. Fibrus focuses on improving connectivity in suburban and semi-rural towns currently suffering with low average broadband speeds. The company recently delivered a successful pilot programme in Dundrum and plans to roll out Fibre-to-the-Premises (‘FTTP’) to over 145,000 premises across Northern Ireland.

Infracapital will draw on its experience of fibre roll-out in other areas of the UK and Continental Europe, while Conal Henry and Dominic Kearns will provide extensive local telecoms experience to drive the company forward as it expands into new areas.

The investment in Fibrus will come from Infracapital’s greenfield strategy which seeks to build, deliver and operate essential greenfield infrastructure across Europe. There is a growing need for new-build infrastructure, in particular fibre broadband, to meet the changing needs of society and support long term economic growth.

Andy Matthews, Head of Greenfield at Infracapital, said: “We are delighted to announce the acquisition of Fibrus and to play our role in delivering an increasingly essential service to society in tandem with delivering value to our investors. We are also particularly excited to announce our first investment in Northern Ireland. The investment is indicative of the significant opportunity to build, deliver and operate essential greenfield infrastructure across Europe, where we are seeing a number of opportunities to deploy further funds in the coming months and years.”

Conal Henry, Fibrus Co-Founder and Chairman said: “We are exceptionally proud to bring this investment to Northern Ireland. Alongside Infracapital, Fibrus now has the firepower to deliver, at scale and pace, our radical plan to transform the broadband landscape in the region. With this investment we will deliver the digital infrastructure that will transform our economy and our society. Fibrus is an organisation that is about being the best. We want to build the best networks, so we’ve recruited the best colleagues and partners and now we have attracted the best investors. I feel confident that this world class combination with Infracapital will achieve great things for a great many people.”

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper whenever you are able to do so.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper when you can safely.

You can also enjoy unlimited access to the best news from across Northern Ireland and the UK by subscribing to newsletter.co.uk

With a digital subscription, you can read more than five articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.newsletter.co.uk/subscriptions now to sign up.

Thank you