Rural cable firm Omne rescued in £4m deal
- Added:
- Jan 31, 2003
The firm's administrators BDO Stoy Hayward and law firm Taylor Wessing secured approval earlier this week for a £4m deal, which will see 75.5% of the operator bought by property investment company CLS Holdings.
Under the agreement, the London-based firm will inherit Omne's 500km cable network, which was designed to provide digital TV, phone and high-speed internet services in rural areas outside the reach of cable counterparts NTL and Telewest and deemed unprofitable by BT.
The deal will see £4.12m funding provided to Omne and a new management team put in place comprising new MDs Kjell Nilsson - founder of telecoms consultancy Xpolare - and former Tele2 and Racal Vodafone executive Mats During.
Omne entered administration in May last year after a US investor pulled the plug and the firm ran up debts building the infrastructure, partly mirroring the financial troubles that have hit NTL and Telewest over recent months.
It was since forced to move offices and lay off 70% of its staff - 140 people - to cut costs as restructuring negotiations ran over schedule.
However, joint administrator David Hill said Omne's core business was "robust" and that it had received "overwhelming support" from its creditors and shareholders throughout its administration.
Hill said the operator had retained most of its 5,000 customers throughout the restructuring and that the new management would now launch a "major sales drive" to attract more to sign up.
The package - approved by creditors on Tuesday and completed today - will see a dividend provided to Omne's creditors "over time", Hill claimed. Although a spokesperson for CLS wouldn't comment further on its future plans, the company sought to assure customers that its services would continue.
The LSE-listed firm has a portfolio of properties in the UK, Sweden, France, and has a 46% stake in Isle of Wight cable TV and broadband operator WightCable.
"www.omneuk.com ":http://www.omneuk.com
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