Broadworks purchase may value firm at €8m

A consortium led by the former managing director of Advanced Environmental Solutions (AES), Pat Alley, is in talks to buy a majority stake in the cable TV firm Broadworks.

The purchase, which could close as early as this week, would value the Dublin-based cable television firm at up to €8 million, according to industry sources.

Broadworks supplies cable television, internet and telephone services to almost 8,000 houses in Dublin through fibre-optic cables that run direct into homes.

The company was founded by Steve Keaveney, a former chief financial officer of Irish cable company CMI which was bought by Chorus in the 1990s.

Mr Keaveney will remain on the board but be replaced by Mr Alley as chief executive if the deal is completed as currently scheduled.

Earlier this year, Broadworks raised €2 million new funds from Montaigne Investment Malta and some prominent Irish businessmen.

These include Frank Walsh (a former chairman of Anglo Irish Bank) and Louis Fitzgerald (a director of alternative energy firm Airtricity).

It is expected that Montaigne Investment Malta and the individuals will retain a minority stake in the company following completion of the latest investment.

Mr Alley confirmed his interest in Broadworks when contacted by The Irish Times yesterday.

But he said no deal had yet been completed and he was also interested in other opportunities in the waste industry.

Mr Alley recently resigned his executive role at AES, which last year underwent a restructuring and raised new investment.

Broadworks deploys its cable system by teaming up with property developers that are building new estates and laying a fibre-optic cable system in parallel with the construction work of the estate.

It has a number of leading property developers such as Menolly Homes, Manor Park Homes, Cannon & Kirk and Maplewood Developments as clients.

Another Dublin-based company, Magnet Networks, is pursuing this strategy to compete with Chorus, Eircom and NTL.