TalkTalk Group has secured £100 million ($134m) in new funding from an existing shareholder.
The UK ISP announced the funding facility last week, noting that the new facilities have been arranged in conjunction with a number of other actions.
According to TalkTalk, this includes approximately £50m ($67m) of non-core asset sales recently announced and amendments to existing debt facilities, allowing interest to be capitalized, increasing funding capacity by more than £200m ($268m).
TalkTalk didn’t name the shareholder, though Sky News reports that the funding has come from alternative asset manager Ares Management.
The announcement comes weeks after reports emerged that TalkTalk missed several payment deadlines to broadband suppliers BT Openreach and CityFibre.
TalkTalk has struggled in recent years, reporting last month that it lost 400,000 customers last year, while reducing its headcount by 20 percent, including 130 jobs being lost at its Salford consumer division in December. The company’s debt is said to be nearing £1.2 billion ($1.63bn).
The company said the new funding will be used to strengthen the group’s working capital position and support investment in its two businesses – PXC and TalkTalk.
“This new investment will significantly strengthen the group’s funding position and demonstrates strong conviction in our business model and value proposition,” said James Smith, TalkTalk Group CEO.
“We have already made significant progress in simplifying the way we run the business and deliver our services. The new investment will enable us to accelerate with confidence the next phase of new product delivery, automation, and improved customer experience across both our wholesale and consumer businesses.”
In 2021, Toscafund Asset Management, previously the second-largest shareholder in the company, completed a takeover of TalkTalk for £1.1bn ($1.49bn).
Two years later, the company split its business into three units: B2B Wholesale Platform, TalkTalk Consumer, and TalkTalk Business Direct, before TalkTalk sold the latter to TFP Telecoms Limited (TFP), a special purpose vehicle controlled by the main shareholders of TalkTalk Telecom Group Limited (TTG).
It was reported last month that the company could explore a split of its consumer arm and PXC, its wholesale and network division.
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