Gresham House, the specialist alternative asset manager, has backed alt-net Telcom Group’s acquisition of Luminet, London’s largest Fixed Wireless network operator and leading business-to-business connectivity provider.

The acquisition, backed via Gresham House’s British Sustainable Infrastructure Fund II (“BSIF II”) follows an initial investment of £63 million into Telcom Group in 2021, within its Digital Inclusion investment thematic.

It enables Telcom Group to continue driving positive social impact by significantly expanding its high-speed internet operations and adds London to their list of existing metro networks, supporting economic growth. The acquisition establishes Telcom Group as the largest B2B Fixed Wireless Network provider in the UK, which complements its fixed-line Fibre offering where Telcom have built a network of over 500km of fibre across major UK regional cities.

Founded in 2005 to help businesses in London via high-speed, failsafe internet connections, Luminet rapidly became a leading alt-net specialist. Their acquisition builds on this success, with Telcom Group looking to leverage their unique ability to provide fully resilient connectivity, at speeds of up to 10GBps, to enhance their offering for the City’s business community.

Simon Adcock (pictured above), Head of Portfolio and Co-Fund Manager of Sustainable Infrastructure at Gresham House, said: “Telcom Group is having a marked impact on businesses across the UK, enabling them to play a bigger role in their local economies by providing high-speed networks that have become a cornerstone of successful businesses in recent years. 

Vastly superior to copper-based broadband in terms of both performance and energy efficiency, alternative networks represent critical infrastructure for economic growth and the drive to net zero.”

He added: “We are very pleased to welcome Luminet into the Telcom group. The two businesses are a strong strategic fit in terms of their culture and values, the geographies they cover, and the products and service they provide. The acquisition will provide a platform for the accelerated growth of Telcom, enhancing their offering all over the country.”

Christopher Baldock, Telcom Group’s Chair, added:”The board of Telcom are delighted to be working with the team at Luminet whose London footprint and strong channel proposition will complement and integrate into Telcom’s network infrastructure in Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Cardiff and Birmingham and provide a platform for our product portfolio of applications, products and services aimed at the business market.”