Enet stake bidder claims it was used as a ‘stalking horse’

Investment fund Cube sues over breach of trust in negotiations for €145 million stake in telecoms firm Enet

Minister for Communications Denis Naughten enjoys a joke with Stephen Wheeler, managing director of SSE Ireland and David C McCourt, chairman of Enet Andrew Downes

A multibillion-euro investment fund has claimed it was used as a “stalking horse” in a €145 million contest for a stake in Enet, the telecoms firm at the centre of a controversy over the rollout of rural broadband.

Cube Infrastructure, a Luxembourg-based investment fund, also claims its confidential information was secretly used to ‘expedite’ the ultimate sale of the stake to a state backed fund.

Enet is the last bidder standing for the state’s lucrative broadband contract after two other parties withdrew. Since then, the process has been mired in controversy, which deepened when it emerged last week thatMinister for Communications Denis Naughten had a private dinner with Enet founder and chairman David McCourt in New York at which they discussed the company’s bid.