Macquarie Asset Management has made a €125m debt investment in Irish broadband network operator SIRO.
The manager said the loan represented the largest institutional component of a €620m debt financing package arranged by NatWest, which will provide SIRO with the “certainty and flexibility it needs as it delivers on its rollout plan�.
SIRO has a fibre-to-the-home network passing approximately 410,000 homes and businesses in Ireland. The company plans to expand its wholesale-only fibre network to reach approximately 770,000 premises across more than 150 regional towns and cities by 2026.
Tom van Rijsewijk, managing director at Macquarie Asset Management, said: “The pandemic has brought into sharp focus the urgent need that exists to transform our telecommunications infrastructure to facilitate the increasing digitisation of our economy and society.
�We are proud to be supporting SIRO as it invests to develop and expand its fibre-to-the-home network, enabling hundreds of thousands more homes and businesses across Ireland to access the benefits of ultrafast broadband.�
John Keaney, CEO of SIRO, said: “Our fibre broadband network is currently available to 410,000 homes and businesses across Ireland. As part of this next phase, we will increase our network reach by over 70%.
�This will enable many more Irish homes and businesses to access high-quality, high-speed broadband to support how they now live and work.�
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