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A new report claims that UK ISP Opus Broadband, which was previously reported to have been working with investment firm Alchemy Partners on a potential c.£250m bid for TalkTalk’s consumer business, before later walking away, has now allegedly tabled a cut price bid of around £100m for the debt-strained internet provider.
The offer, which Sky News said today was unlikely to be accepted by TalkTalk’s Board, reflects the extremely difficult situation that the wider Group now finds itself in. As reported last week, existing investor Ares Management is instead said to be positioning itself to take long-term ownership of the consumer business.
Meanwhile the Group’s efforts to sell their wholesale business – PXC – also ran into difficulties this week after lead bidder Octopus Investments retreated. One key difficulty is that TalkTalk’s consumer business is strongly linked to PXC’s wholesale products, thus any deal for one side of the business or the other would require some agreement on how that relationship continues into the future.