An Aberdeen fund will take a £200mn hit after the failure of UK broadband provider Airband and its sale to Macquarie-backed rival Voneus. Airband’s lenders, including HSBC and Lloyds, will also take a hit on the sale. The deal was struck at a sum in the single-digit millions.

The administration and sale of Airband is the latest in a series of high-profile losses in the heavily indebted UK altnet sector, where more than £31bn was raised by dozens of challengers to BT’s Openreach and Virgin Media O2. The altnet sector posted losses in 2024 that Enders Analysis put at more than £1.5bn. Airband, which supplies full-fibre broadband to about 175,000 homes, posted revenues of just £6.7mn in 2024 and total losses of more than £66mn over the same period.

The company had total liabilities of more than £224mn. Aberdeen, which made its initial investment into Airband in 2020, put about £200mn into the company, which was held in one of its infrastructure funds. A spokesperson for the asset manager said that “following a disciplined review of future funding requirements and risk-adjusted return prospects, we made the difficult decision to cease further funding.” Macquarie-backed Voneus, whose other shareholders include Tiger Infrastructure Partners and the Israel Infrastructure Fund, serves about 100,000 homes with fibre broadband.

Christopher Traggio, chief executive of Voneus, told the FT the two networks were “complementary in terms of their geographical scope.” Lloyds declined to comment. Airband and HSBC were contacted for comment.