Sir Charles Dunstone, the entrepreneur behind the TalkTalk broadband empire, has struck a £400m deal with its lenders to avert the threat of a debt default.
Sky News has learnt that TalkTalk will announce later on Monday that its shareholders – who include Sir Charles – have agreed to inject £65m into the company immediately.
This will be followed by a further injection of £170m, with assets currently held separately such as its Virtual1 subsidiary and Ovo and Shell customer bases also contributed to the group.
In total, the refinancing is worth more than £400m, according to insiders.
Ares Management and Toscafund will also participate in the capital injection.
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TalkTalk’s bank lenders and bondholders have, in return, agreed to extend looming debt maturities from this November and next February to the autumn of 2027.
The extension will provide TalkTalk, which has nearly 4m UK broadband customers, with crucial breathing space to implement the business plans of its PlatformX wholesale network and its consumer business.
TalkTalk is also expected to confirm that a series of leadership changes, with chief executive Tristia Clarke becoming a non-executive director and being replaced by James Smith, will take place next month.
Sir Charles will continue as group chairman.
TalkTalk declined to comment.