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A new report claims that Opus Broadband, which was previously reported to have been working alongside investment firm Alchemy Partners on a potential bid for TalkTalk’s debt-strained consumer business, has decided not to pursue a bid for the ISP after an exclusivity period elapsed. Instead Ares Management may be looking to take long-term ownership of the business.
Regular readers may recall that Ares has already made a series of massive debt-financing interventions over the past few years to help keep the struggling UK telecoms provider afloat. The most recent example of this occurred in March 2026, when a further £115m was injected into the TalkTalk group (£65m in new senior debt and a short-term facility of £50m).
According to Sky News, the alleged decision by Opus not pursue a c.£250m bid, as well as the seeming absence of any other serious bids (Vodafone has not been mentioned for a while), has resulted Ares potentially moving to take long-term ownership of the business, with TalkTalk’s founder Sir Charles Dunstone expected to hold an advisory role. Ares is already TalkTalk’s biggest lender and a minority shareholder, but not its outright long-term owner.