BT slumps as CityFibre said to near investment deal with Abu Dhabi fund

BT shares slumped on Monday as it emerged that CityFibre, a challenger to its Openreach network, was set to secure a £500m investment from a consortium including Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund to help bolster its ultra-fast broadband roll-out.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the fund is close to buying a minority stake in CityFibre in a deal that would value it at more than $2.7bn. WJS said the investment would be from Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Co. and the investment arm linked to the family behind IKEA.

If finalised, the deal is expected to be announced over the coming weeks, WSJ said.

In May, CityFibre chief executive Greg Mesch told the Mail on Sunday that he was in talks with 20 pension and infrastructure funds over the potential sale of a £1bn stake as it looked to compete with BT.

The company’s fibre cables are used by customers including TalkTalk and Vodafone and CityFibre is the UK's third largest telecoms infrastructure firm.

CityFibre is controlled by Antin Infrastructure Partners - which is backed by Goldman Sachs - and West Street Infrastructure Partners. They each own a 35% stake.

At 1510 BST, BT shares were down 4% at 166.40p.