Advising GoFibre (formerly Borderlink Broadband) on raising equity and debt worth up to £175,000,000 from funds controlled by Gresham House Plc

The transaction involved working hand in hand with the board of GoFibre (formerly Borderlink) as a trusted advisor to manage the investment process from start to finish, including the completion of pre-investment share capital restructuring and management of existing shareholder interests. Given our role as existing legal counsel on all current legal matters for GoFibre, we were well placed to handle the transaction.

The funding is being used to complete the development of state-of-the-art full fibre networks in order to connect hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses across Scotland and the North of England over the next three years.

Brodies led and managed all aspects of the transaction. This involved working side by side with the management team of the business daily and providing tailored commercial advice in relation to a series of complex issues. Our ability to immediately respond and provide novel resolutions to problems was a key driver to the successful completion of the transaction.

Work highlights

• the total potential investment from Gresham House has a combined value of up to £175m;
• the transaction required Brodies to call on its full-service credentials, deploying support across practice areas, including [corporate], banking, tax, management incentives and telecoms;
• building on existing trusted advisor relationships with GoFibre from across the firm;
• working in close collaboration with GoFibre's corporate finance advisors on the transaction, Anthem Corporate Finance.

Outcome

The investments were successfully delivered to a tight timetable, allowing GoFibre to dramatically accelerate its plans for growth, including opening new offices and recruiting over 100 additional staff.