Following the acquisition, Cuckoo will become the lead consumer brand for Giganet’s core residential customers, with Giganet focusing on serving its growing enterprise base.
Part of the Fern fibre family, which also includes Jurassic, Swish, Allpoints Fibre and Vorboss, Giganet was established in 2018 and launched in 2021 and specialises in full fibre connectivity and telecoms.
Following a £250 million funding injection from Fern Trading Limited last year, and through the deployment of its own full fibre network infrastructure in connection with CityFibre and Openreach, Giganet now provides internet to hundreds of thousands of UK businesses and nine million homes across the UK.
Founded in 2020, Cuckoo are on course to become the UK’s fastest, fairest, feel-good internet service provider, competing with other more traditional ISPs by providing fair prices and transparency as well as engaging with changing consumer values to offer the Cuckoo Compass promise: 1% of each customer’s bill will help supply internet connectivity to refugee camps, natural disaster sites and disadvantaged communities across the UK.
Led by corporate partner Philip Lamb and tax partner Alex Barnes, this transaction marks yet another successful digital infrastructure deal for the BDB Pitmans’ team. Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe acted for the sellers.
Corporate partner Philip Lamb commented, “Although this is the first time we have acted for Giganet, it was a pleasure to work once more with members of the management team having advised on the sale of Giganet to Fern Fibre in 2021. Giganet and Cuckoo are a natural fit with their customer centred approach and as the rollout of full fibre continues to accelerate over the next few years, I have no doubt the company will go from strength to strength.”
Jarlath Finnegan, CEO, Giganet added: “This acquisition will enable our incoming customer base to benefit from the full fibre network partnerships that have given Giganet its impressive national reach. Putting customers first has always been our philosophy and we are confident that Cuckoo’s ethos of fairness makes them the perfect partner as we grow the brand. We’d like to take this opportunity to thank BDB Pitmans for their invaluable guidance and excellent client service in helping us bring the deal to a successful close.”
Image credit: Giganet
