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Arqiva cans £6bn float that was to be London's biggest of the year

Published: 04:04 03 Nov 2017 EDT

Moody shot of Alexandra Palace
Alexandra Palace: Former home of the BBC and from where the first TV signal was broadcast in 1936

It’s off. The transmitter giant Arqiva has canned its £6bn London Stock Exchange float, citing market uncertainty.

It was set to be the biggest UK listing of the year. But, in a Stock Exchange statement prospective investors learned: "The board of Arqiva Group Limited and its shareholders have decided that pursuing a listing in this period of IPO market uncertainty is not in the interests of Arquiva Group Limited and its stakeholders, and will revisit the listing once IPO market conditions improve."

The company opted for a stock market listing after takeover talks with a consortium led by Canada’s Brookfield Investments collapsed.

Cash injection 

It was seeking to raise £1.5bn of fresh capital, £600mln of which was earmarked to pay off around £600mln of debt.

According to the Guardian, the move would have reduced interest costs by £57mln annually. And following the flotation, more than £2.5bn of shareholder loans would have converted to equity.

Arqiva is owned by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Australian private equity firm Macquarie.

The company, which employs more than 2,000 and runs and maintains mobile phone towers, owns the mast that broadcast the BBC’s first signal back in 1936.

In the year ended June 30, it generated revenues if almost £1bn and profits of £567mln. It was expected to distribute dividends of £195mln.

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