UK alternative network provider, Brsk, has secured a £103m debt investment from funds managed by Ares Management Corporation’s (Ares) Infrastructure Debt strategy. The funding, which is able to be upsized to £178m over time to support future growth, will support the company in expanding its full fibre broadband network across targeted areas in the UK.
Brsk was founded by Giorgio Iovino and Ian Kock in 2020, both founding members of Vumatel in South Africa. Together with support from equity partner Advencap, they are a team well experienced in large scale fibre deployments. The provider started its network build in West Yorkshire, UK and has expanded across four regions covering a total of 70,000 premises passed within 18 months from launch. It is currently adding more than 10,000 premises per month with plans to double that build rate in the near term.
Giorgio Iovino, co-founder of Brsk says: ‘We are delighted to welcome Ares as our new financing partner. This financing comes at an important time as we continue to invest in ramping up our build rate to expand our network and achieve our goal of 1 million premises passed. People in the UK have suffered from poor broadband for too long. We will continue to upgrade areas that are reliant on outdated copper connectivity and deliver full fibre broadband with an outstanding customer experience.’
James Fox, managing director, infrastructure debt at Ares adds: ‘We have been impressed by the experience of the Brsk management team and share their enthusiasm for improving digital connectivity across the UK. We are proud to be partnering with Giorgio, Ian and the team in delivering gigabit broadband to communities across the regions.’
