The much-touted sale of UK transmission company Arqiva could finally get the go-ahead.
Four banks, Barclays, Goldman Sachs, HSBC and JP Morgan, have been hired to prepare for a London listing of Arqiva, which is responsible for the transmission of the majority of Britain’s terrestrial television and radio signals, as well as satellite uplinks for Sky and a host of international broadcasters. It also has substantial business in the mobile phone sector.
However, while plans for the IPO proceed, the possibility of the sale of the entire business to a single infrastructure company remains a possibility.
Sky News reported on Sunday that the dual-track process remains at an early stage and still might not be concluded until early in 2018.
Arqiva’s largest shareholder is the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, which holds 48 per cent of the shares. The Australian bank Macquarie owns a further 25 per cent.