Opus Broadband returns with cut-price offer for TalkTalk retail arm

One of the suitors for the retail arm of struggling broadband provider TalkTalk Telecom Group has returned with a cut-price offer that would further increase the losses facing investors in the company.

Sky News has learnt that Opus Broadband has tabled a fresh proposal for TalkTalk's consumer business worth in the region of £100m - well under half the original price tag mooted for the division.

Sources said on Thursday that Opus's revised offer was unlikely to be accepted by TalkTalk's board.

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The reduced price reflects, however, the company's deepening travails as it races to find a buyer for its two main operating businesses by the end of the month.

Discussions about a deal to sell its wholesale network, PXC, to a company backed by Octopus Inheritance Tax Service, have stalled, leaving TalkTalk's advisers trying to stitch together a sale to Epiris, the private equity firm.

Epiris is in the middle of a takeover bid for London-listed Gamma Communications, with which analysts say the PXC business would share substantial financial synergies.

Meanwhile, TalkTalk's consumer business, which serves about 1.7 million customers, could be taken over by the group's biggest lender, Ares Management, if no other acceptable bid emerges in the coming days.

TalkTalk's founder, Sir Charles Dunstone, is expected to chair the retail operation in that scenario.

A number of restructuring options are being examined with a view to implementing any transactions for TalkTalk's operations, with the professional services firm Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) on standby to assist with deals involving the group and its subsidiaries.

TalkTalk is said to have until the end of the month to resolve its future, with another significant payment to BT Group's Openreach division due at that point.

Ofcom, the industry regulator, was reported by the Telegraph last weekend to be closely monitoring the unfolding situation at TalkTalk.

The newspaper said that BT could be asked to step in to take on TalkTalk's retail customers if the company were to collapse.

Sir Charles launched TalkTalk in 2004 with an audacious attempt to capture a big share of Britain's retail telecoms market.

One of the country's most successful entrepreneurs, the Carphone Warehouse co-founder remains a significant shareholder in TalkTalk alongside Toscafund Asset Management, with which he took it private in 2021.

The company was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2010, when it demerged from Carphone Warehouse.

Its 2021 delisting took place at a valuation of about £2bn including debt.

The company has struggled for long periods since then, with cashflow difficulties - exacerbated by a haemorrhaging of its retail customer base - meaning the group's valuation has shrunk significantly over the last five years.

Over the last 18 months, its stakeholders, led by Ares, have stepped in repeatedly with new financial support to help stabilise the company.

Ares spearheaded a deal to inject a further £115m into the business, which is heavily debt-laden, as recently as February.

TalkTalk declined to comment.

(c) Sky News 2026: Opus Broadband returns with cut-price offer for TalkTalk retail arm