What's Xavier's game? - Eir selling off half their net

ED E

Hey Folks

Already posted here but I think it deserves its own thread.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118061421#Comment_118061421

Article:

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/technology/eir-planning-to-sell-almost-half-of-irish-fibre-network-1.4708296

 plans to hive off its fibre business into a separate joint venture in which a potential buyer would take a 49 per cent stake.

Would love some clarity on precisely what they're selling and not. Whats the game, split the profitable and unprofitable and then try to apply two tier pricing with the new financials (a massive loss on the balance sheet) with COMREG?

NB: Its always the Irish Times that gets the scoop on their deals, do they have a quid pro quo relationship perhaps :P

Djcon

"Unlike most market incumbents, it has only a minority stake in the highly lucrative urban broadband market here, playing second fiddle to Virgin’s cable network.

Virgin has a 60 per cent market share in Dublin, while Eir has less than 30 per cent, a reflection of the underinvestment that followed the former semi-state’s"

With Virgin media ireland now on the market, and with Xaviar Niel's recent takeover of UPC poland. I wonder is he eyeing up a takeover here or a joint eir/virgin venture.

This sell off of parts of the eir network could be a way to placate comreg re anticompetition laws.

Probably unrelated but interesting to see Dennis o' Brian has sold digicell's oceanic division.

ED E

Is Digis submarine holding worth much now? Lots of really high cap cables being laid/soon to be.

VM could be purchased, but if Eircom Grp tried it there'd be murder.

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/media-and-marketing/private-equity-waits-in-wings-as-virgin-media-ireland-up-for-sale-1.4606148

clohamon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058214578/whats-xaviers-game-eir-selling-off-half-their-net

Would love some clarity on precisely what they're selling and not. Whats the game, split the profitable and unprofitable and then try to apply two tier pricing with the new financials (a massive loss on the balance sheet) with COMREG?

ComReg have just spent a fortune trying to model Eircom's access network. At least three consultants were used (Cartesian, Tera and Dot Econ). The model was made trickier by Eircom including their fleet of sea-going VDSL cabinets (see below), and then claiming they were unfamiliar with the world's most popular open-source database. Pity if it all has to be done again due to re-allocation of assets in this sale.

ED E

The headline is crap from the IT, was called out on the tweet machine.

Eir is planning to sell-off almost half its fibre network in Ireland in a deal that could net the group over €1 billion.

They aren't selling off half their network, they're selling off a 50% stake in the entire network. Annoyed I didnt put two and two together on that.

PS: It takes 3 clicks to quote now. On the old site it was ONE. F0ck off boards.

The Cush

Fitch Revises eir's Outlook to Stable; Affirms at 'B+' (fitchratings.com) (thanks to EarWig)

eir's sale of a 49% stake in Fibre Networks Ireland Limited (FibreCo) to InfraVia Capital Partners is expected to be completed within the next two months. The reduced economic ownership of this critical local-access network infrastructure and the stable cashflow these assets generate will weaken eir's operating profile, leading us to tighten our funds from operations (FFO) net leverage rating thresholds by 0.3x.

The RWN follows eir's plans to raise EUR765 million at the newly created FibreCo. We expect eir to use part of the proceeds from the sale and new financing to pay down existing senior secured debt issued at the holdco level. Details of the new FibreCo debt and the quantum of debt to be repaid at holdco are still unknown. Raising debt at the FibreCo level may weaken the recovery prospects of existing holdco debt and could lead to a downgrade of the existing facilities under our bespoke recovery analysis approach.

909747 FIBRE NETWORKS IRELAND LIMITED (Registered On 24/02/2022)

909748 FIBRE NETWORKS IRELAND HOLDINGS LIMITED (Registered On 24/02/2022)

theguzman

The state should have nationalised it, having such a critical infrastrucutral asset in the hands of some vulture hedge fund does not sit right at all from an economic or security point of view.

The Cush

Eircom & InfraVia agreement with Comreg on their new venture Fibre Networks Ireland

We confirm that, under the Investment Documents, Eircom remains wholly responsible for and has all of the legal rights and entitlements required by it to ensure that the regulatory obligations associated with its status of operator with Significant Market Power including but not limited to the obligations under ComReg Decision D10/18 dated 19 November 2018 ("Decision D10/18") are met in full.

and later in the year

ComReg will carry out its assessment of the implications of the legal, structural and operational arrangements envisaged by the Transaction in accordance with Regulation 15 of the European Communities (Electronic Communications Networks and Services) (Access) Regulations 2011 (“Access Regulations”). This assessment will be completed by way of ComReg’s ongoing reviews of the Physical Infrastructure Access (“PIA”) and Wholesale Local Access (“WLA”) markets. Public consultations on these reviews are due to be published in Q4 this year.

https://www.comreg.ie/publication-download/information-notice-eir-infravia-transaction

yrreg0850

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119151783#Comment_119151783

The mistake was made when, with the cooperation of the unions , the state sold it to the O Reilly vulture fund.