UK altnet Trooli acquired by newly-formed company

A recently registered company called Agnar UK Infrastructure Ltd has taken control of UK altnet Trooli and new directors have been appointed, according to Companies House filings.

There has been no actual announcement, but a notification on Trooli’s Companies House page dated 6 April shows a filing that a recently registered entity called Agnar UK Infrastructure Ltd has taken 75% control of UK altnet.

Rifling through the Companies House filings, first flagged up by ISP Review, Agnar UK has two French directors – Maxime Buisson and Elie Nammar, both of whom are partners of Vauban Infrastructure Partners. Two days prior to the acquisition filing they were put onto the Trooli board of directors, and the Companies House filings also show that on the same day (4 April) Ashley Atkins, David Duggins, Andrew Conibere ceased to be directors of Trooli.

Late last month the FT quoted sources claiming Vauban were in discussions to acquire Trooli for more than £100 million.

Trooli launched in Kent in 2018 and has since had success in rolling out fibre to the regional area. In August 2021 it secured £67.5 million to spend on its rollout in the South East of the UK from a group of commercial lenders, aided by the support of the Connecting Europe Broadband Fund (CEBF) team.

Sketching out its ambitions at the time, the altnet said in a statement: “The funds will be used to expand the reach of Trooli’s Gigabit-capable network as it increases from more than 100,000 premises today to 170,000 by the end of 2021, 400,000 during 2022, and rising to one million in 2024.”

Until there is some sort of official comms from Trooli or Vauban (both were contacted by Telecoms.com but at the time of publishing this article had not responded), details on the takeover are thin on the ground. In terms of the broader picture, the number of altnets that have cropped up in the UK in the last few years, propelled by an apparently very eager investment community, have led many to predict a wave of consolidation is around the corner, since it would be hard for all of them to coexist. This acquisition could well be part of such activity.

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