Irish broadband provider Perlico has achieved a valuation of €55m after a group of investors led by Michael Smurfit invested more than €10m to acquire an 18pc stake in the company.
The balance of a €20m fundraising round will be covered by Perlico’s original backers.
Perlico is headed up by Ian McDonald and its original shareholders include Ged Pierse of Pierce Construction, tech entrepreneur Jim Mountjoy and David Martin, formerly of IAWS as well as McDonald’s father, Malcolm.
It is understood that the funding round was completed in recent weeks as the company grew its broadband subscriber base to 75,000 from 10,000 at the start of this year.
The company acquired 10,000 customers when Smart Telecom exited the consumer market.
Perlico is thought to be planning to list on the London Alternative Investment Market (AIM) as well as considering a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) play.
Mobile network operator O2 earlier this year made an unsuccessful bid to acquire Perlico.
By John Kennedy
