£500m float of telecoms firm back on the cards

Manchester-based telecoms and utility services provider Verastar has bounced back from a £200,000 fine imposed for misleading its customers two years ago and is planning a £500m stock market listing.

According to Sky News, the company previously known as Unicom has teed up investment bankers Jefferies to take the company public.

Unicom’s parent company Universal Utilities was bought out by Vitruvian Partners in 2011.

A public listing was on the cards in 2015, but its plans came unstuck when it was fined by Ofcom for mis-selling landline telephone services.

It apologised, and less than three months later rebranded.

Verastar trades under the Unicom brand, as well as using the names ClearBusiness, Economy Gas, Kinex and Titan Telecom.

It also owns the directory enquiry service 118 777, which it claims is almost twice as cheap as rivals including 118 118, the market leader.

A Vitruvian spokesman was unavailable for comment.