Macquarie Hires Advisors to Prep Hull UK Broadband Operator KCOM for Sale

A new report claims that Australian investment group Macquarie has hired business advisors at Perella Weinberg Partners (PWP) to prepare KCOM for sale in Q2 2026. The operator is the incumbent broadband and phone provider for Hull, although their Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network also extends into other parts of East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.

Just to recap. Macquarie Infrastructure (MIRA / MEIF 6 Fibre), following a fierce bidding war with the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), finalised their £627m acquisition of KCOM in August 2019 (here). At the time, the operator had only just finished their £85m “Lightstream” roll-out of full fibre technology in Hull (here), but they’ve since expanded this and also been busy removing their legacy copper line network and services.

Regular readers might recall that Macquarie reportedly kicked off a Strategic Review of the business back in the Spring of 2024, which was conducted by PJT Partners (here). Back then it was suggested that this could potentially result in either a sale or merger of the business, which somewhat reflects the same trend toward network consolidation as we’ve seen elsewhere in the market (usually driven by competitive pressures, rising build costs and high interest rates etc.). But until now there have been no new updates.

According to HullLive, Macquarie has allegedly now taken another step toward consolidation by appointing New York based Perella Weinberg Partners to test the UK market for interest in a sale of KCOM’s business, which could take place as soon as the second quarter of this year.

The challenge this time is that KCOM’s control of its core market, particularly in Hull, has been significantly eroded in recent years by rival networks. According to Ofcom, recent builds by rivals like MS3, Connexin (CityFibre) and Grain have given local customers more choice of broadband connectivity, with around 70-79% of premises in the Hull Area now having access to at least one alternative network to KCOM.

The regulator’s recent telecoms market review of the Hull area also looks set to maintain many of its controls on the incumbent and even foster greater infrastructure sharing (here), which certainly won’t do KCOM any favours in terms of a potential sale of the business. Ofcom are due to publish their final proposals on all this in October 2026. KCOM has declined to comment on the news.