2 days ago
Business live: Work begins on Port Talbot electric arc furnace
CityFibre, the UK's largest independent full-fibre platform, has reached an agreement with its shareholders and existing lenders on a major £2.3billion financing round, accelerating its next phase of growth.
The financing includes £500 million in new equity secured from CityFibre shareholders, Infrastructure at Goldman Sachs Alternatives, Antin Infrastructure Partners, Mubadala Investment Company and Interogo Holding.
Greg Mesch, chief executive of CityFibre, said: 'This round of financing will supercharge CityFibre's next phase of growth, as we consolidate the altnet sector . . . for the benefit of all our partners, their customers and for the UK economy.'
CityFibre constructs and maintains a pure fibre-optic network, delivering fibre‑to‑the‑premises (FTTP) to homes and businesses.
Construction has started on Tata Steel's arc furnace at Port Talbot steelworks.
The new furnace will secure 5,000 jobs at the steelworks and is made possible by a £500 million grant provided by the government. The funding was agreed by Labour after only ten weeks in office.
The new furnace is expected to reduce Port Talbot's carbon emissions by about 90 per cent.
The Bank of England is ready to make larger cuts to interest rates if the jobs market shows signs of a pronounced slowdown, the governor Andrew Bailey said in an interview in The Times.
He said the economy was growing behind its potential, opening up 'slack' that would help to bring down inflation, which is expected to rise above 3.4 per cent when official figures for June are published this week.
Read more about his views on Trump, stablecoins and the future of the dollar here.
Asian stock markets were higher in muted trading, bitcoin hit a new high of $122,372, and the dollar strengthened after US tariff threats kept investors unsettled.
The FTSE 100 is expected to open flat, but markets in the European Union are forecast to fall after the EU delayed planned retaliatory tariffs on €21 billion of American goods until next month after the Trump administration threatened to impose a 30 per cent levy on the bloc's products.
Trump said on Saturday that he would impose a 30 per cent tariff on most imports from the EU and Mexico from August 1.
The strong dollar left the pound trading at $1.3471. It was trading above $1.36 last week.
