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Hill Dickinson advises ITS Technology Group on major ‘Build and Buy’ acquisition

Hill Dickinson advises ITS Technology Group on major ‘Build and Buy’ acquisition

Commercial law firm Hill Dickinson’s Manchester Corporate team has advised wholesale full fibre provider ITS Technology Group on the acquisition of a ‘dark fibre’ firm as part of its multimillion-pound ‘build and buy’ strategy.

Warrington based ITS, which is based at Daresbury Park in Warrington, has acquired NextGenAccess in a deal that sees it add 455 km of dark fibre across Greater London, Newport, and South Essex. The expansion of ITS’s full fibre footprint means that the business is now on track to pass 25 per cent (500,000) of UK business premises by the end of 2022.

The acquisition also kickstarts ITS’s ‘build and buy’ strategy having secured second round Aviva infrastructure funding of a further £100 million in April this year. 

Advising ITS on the deal were corporate team partner David Mkhitarian, legal director Sean Lightfoot and associate Graeme Anderson.

David Mkhitarian said: “The considerable footprint ITS has built up in the UK as a provider of full fibre services is now further enhanced with the successful acquisition of NextGenAccess, which adds to its dark fibre portfolio and broadens its client offering. We were delighted to advise ITS on the deal and wish the enlarged company every success at this next stage in its growth journey.”

Daren Baythorpe, chief executive of ITS Technology Group, said: “The acquisition of NextGenAccess adds depth to the innovative and business enhancing services we offer to our partners and their customers, cementing our place as one of the leading wholesale fibre providers in the UK. I’m really excited for this next phase of our business.”

ITS designs, builds and operates wholesale full fibre networks known as ‘Faster Britain’ in the marketplace. It has built a substantial partner offering which includes an industry-leading self-service search, quote and order portal and APIs giving access to gigabit-capable full fibre services to any business across the country. 

Dark fibre is optical fibre that has been laid between two locations but is not currently being deployed in fibre-optic communications.

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