KCOM to be broken up by PE owner - report

KCOM's new owner Macquarie is undergoing the process of separating the organisation into different units, the Financial Times has reported.

The comms provider was snapped up by the Australian private equity (PE) firm last year for £627m after a bidding war and subsequently delisted from the London Stock Exchange.

The FT reports that the PE house is planning to separate the "core" Hull-focused business - which has a monopoly on providing fibre broadband in the city - from the "remnants" of its failed national network.

KCOM's sustems integration arm - KCOM enterprise - which punts Avaya and Mitel contact centre solutions to large public and private sector clients -  posted revenues of £89.3m for its year ending 31 March 2019, while the group turnover was £281.6m, ranking it 43rd in CRN's Top VARs.

The "non-Hull units" have already been restructured and are in the process of being "carved" into a separate business by Macquarie and Oakley Advisory has been appointed to organise a potential sale of the non-core business, though the ongoing pandemic has hindered this process, insiders with knowledge of the situation told the FT.

KCOM tried and failed to sell its national assets in 2015 but its £200m price tag at the time was deemed to be too high, the sources said.

Macquarie declined to comment on the matter to CRN.

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