McCourt: Enet sale won’t affect rollout of broadband plan
THE Irish-American businessman at the forefront of Ireland’s National Broadband Plan tender bid has insisted that selling his 22pc stake in the bid’s lynchpin telecoms firm, Enet, will not weaken his involvement in the government-funded rural broadband scheme.
David McCourt, CEO and chairman of Granahan McCourt, said that the sale of his stake in Enet to the statebacked Irish Infrastructure Fund does not alter his “commitment” to the tender bid.
“There is no change in the consortium’s goals,” he said. “Granahan McCourt was always the lead entity in this consortium. We led the consortium since the pre-qualification questionnaire was submitted in March 2016 and as we are now looking ahead to delivering the NBP, and in order to fully commit our time, energy and resources to this ambitious project, we have taken the decision to sell our remaining stake in Enet.” Confirming a report in the
Sunday Independent, Enet will now be fully owned by the IIF after Granahan McCourt’s decision to sell its stake.
The Irish Infrastructure Fund (ISF) is managed by AMP Capital and Irish Life Investment Managers.
“The Irish Infrastructure Fund is delighted to acquire the remaining 22pc in Enet, bringing the IIF’s stake to 100pc,” said AMP Capital’s Philip Doyle, principal of the Irish Infrastructure Fund.
IIF had acquired a majority stake in the business in August 2017. Over the weekend, Mr McCourt dismissed a controversy over meeting Communications Minister Denis Naughten, saying that as a major telecoms investor in Ireland over the years, he would have been “p **** d off ” if Mr Naughten had declined to meet him.
Mr McCourt said that the reason he invited Mr Naughten and his officials to the July dinner in New York was to reassure them that a series of concerns that had arisen regarding the bid tender had been resolved.
“The dinner was prompted by me,“he said. “The minister’s department had brought up some issues and wanted them resolved, saying that if they weren’t we were at risk.
“All I wanted to do was to make sure they knew that those issues were being resolved. If I couldn’t have got hold of the minister I would have called the Taoiseach to say that I understand the seriousness. It was important.”
‘Granahan McCourt was always the lead entity’