CityFibre to raise £900m from shareholders as it eyes further Openreach challenge

The financing is expected to come from the same group of investors that has backed CityFibre through previous funding rounds: Goldman Sachs, Antin Infrastructure Partners, Mubadala Investment Company and Interogo Holding. CityFibre has not commented publicly on the reported raise.

The move follows a £2.3 billion financing deal agreed in July 2025, which included roughly £500 million in fresh equity from the same shareholder group alongside expanded debt facilities. That round came after CityFibre disclosed “material uncertainty” over its ability to continue without further funding in its 2023 accounts, before returning to what it described as its first full year of profitability.

Financial pressure across the altnet sector

The new raise lands against a backdrop of mounting financial strain across the UK’s alternative network providers. A report published in June by Assembly Research, commissioned by rival consolidator nexfibre, found that CityFibre carried total reported liabilities of £5.1 billion, and that free cash flow was negative for all but one of the UK’s eight largest altnets.

The same report pointed to recent distress elsewhere in the market, including G.Network’s move into administration in January and Gigaclear’s recapitalisation in April, which delivered lenders an estimated 40% haircut.

CityFibre has continued to post commercial progress in the same period. In March, the operator launched an 8.5Gb wholesale broadband product across its network, then passing more than 4.7 million premises, and said it was adding over 30,000 customers a month.

Consolidation on both sides

The raise also comes as CityFibre positions itself against consolidation moves by its largest rival. In February, CityFibre chief executive Simon Holden warned that nexfibre’s proposed £2 billion acquisition of Netomnia would create an 80% network overlap between the two operators, arguing the deal risked reducing competition and pushing the market back toward a BT-Virgin Media O2 duopoly. nexfibre has argued the opposite: that combining with Netomnia is necessary to build the scale required to challenge Openreach on a national footing.

CityFibre’s own fresh capital raise suggests the largest independent challenger sees a similar scale imperative applying to itself, even as it contests the logic when pursued by a rival.

Openreach, for its part, continues to expand from a position of scale, passing more than 18 million premises and targeting 25 million by the end of 2026.

nexfibre calls for UK fibre consolidation as Assembly Research report backs Netomnia acquisition