The news comes nearly two months after the company supported an offer of £504 million from Humber Bidco, a subsidiary of Universities Superannuation Scheme Ltd (USSL) as was due to go before KCOM shareholders at a general meeting on 5 June.
"We are pleased that the KCOM board is recommending our takeover offer," said Leigh Harrison, head of MIRA EMEA. “KCOM has a strong local heritage that has been developed over more than a century and is well-positioned to continue to meet the evolving telecommunications needs of the region, which is why we have made this compelling offer to shareholders at an attractive premium.”
The new offer was received from MEIF-6 Fiber, an indirect subsidiary of Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 6 SCSp - an investment fund managed by Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (Europe).
The new figure represents an 11p increase on the Humber Bidco offer and the KCOM board has now withdrawn its recommendation of the deal in favour of the MEIF-6 Fiber offer.
"As an experienced, long-term telecommunications investor, we are committed to supporting KCOM's sustainable growth,” added Harrison. “We look forward to partnering with management to increase broadband take-up in its core region and beyond, enhancing the quality of service delivery while giving local businesses and residents greater access to the opportunities that high-speed broadband can provide."
Back in October 2018, KCOM appointed Graham Sutherland, the former BT business group executive, as its new CEO. The decision aligns itself with the company’s FY18 results, which highlighted a number of challenges the company is facing particularly on the enterprise side as it looks to increase its revenue share from managed services and cloud hosting deals.
