MANX TELECOM acquired by BASALT INFRASTRUCTURE PARTNERS

Telecom operator JT Group (Jersey Telecom), a strategic national asset wholly owned by the States of Jersey, has partnered with private markets investor CVC DIF (the dedicated infrastructure strategy of CVC) to complete the acquisition of Manx Telecom Group. The digital infrastructure platform was acquired from funds managed by Basalt Infrastructure Partners LLP. Originally agreed upon in October 2025, the transaction secured all customary regulatory clearances and successfully closed in May 2026. This landmark consolidation creates the largest full-service telecommunications provider operating across the UK Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey, and the Isle of Man. The strategic buyout brings together two highly trusted, locally rooted operators to establish a powerful joint platform for international growth and innovation. The partnership with CVC DIF injects institutional capital and deep sector expertise to support long-term infrastructure investment. The combined scale enables the group to accelerate next-generation network upgrades—specifically targeting the commercial expansion of 5G, fiber rollouts, IoT platforms, and sophisticated managed services.

Private equity firm HgCapital, in close coordination with joint venture partner CPS Partners, has successfully executed the full exit of its investment in Manx Telecom through an initial public offering (IPO). Fully underwritten, the public listing transaction will result in the official admission and trading of the company's shares on London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM). This public market realization concludes a successful three-and-a-half-year holding period for HgCapital's clients (including the listed HgCapital Trust plc) and represents the fifth exit from the 2009-vintage HgCapital 6 Fund. The IPO successfully validates the execution of the original investment thesis driven by the financial sponsors. Throughout their ownership, the backing partners implemented a comprehensive corporate transformation, initially building a top-tier management team before driving accelerated organic revenue growth via high-quality, attractively priced customer packages and instituting rigorous cost-control initiatives. This disciplined operational strategy enhanced profit growth and maintained a highly cash-generative profile, which facilitated a successful leveraged recapitalization of the business in March 2013. As a newly public company, Manx Telecom is strategically positioned to efficiently capture expanding off-island digital opportunities, particularly in high-end data center provision.

European sector-focused private equity firm HgCapital has successfully agreed to acquire a majority equity stake in Manx Telecom, previously a wholly owned subsidiary of Telefónica. The buyout was executed alongside CPS Partners, a specialist international telecommunications management company. Subject to customary local regulatory clearances, the transaction includes a capital commitment of approximately £11 million from the listed vehicle HgCapital Trust plc, representing 15% of the sponsor's total equity ticket. The buyout perfectly aligns with HgCapital’s core thesis of backing highly resilient, growth-oriented platforms. The Isle of Man offers a robust macroeconomic backdrop (boasting 25 years of unbroken GDP growth) and a highly favorable regulatory environment that encourages sustained infrastructure investment. Partnering closely with the management team, the financial sponsor intends to drive significant value creation by upgrading the core network and funding a new state-of-the-art data hosting center. Furthermore, HgCapital will focus on operational margin improvements and actively support a targeted buy-and-build strategy to accelerate the expansion of high-margin off-island opportunities.