One of Canada’s biggest pension funds is plotting a bid for a big stake in CityFibre Holdings, the telecoms infrastructure group targeting a £4bn investment programme by 2025.

Sky News has learnt that the Ontario Municipal Employees’ Retirement System (OMERS) is among a number of parties vying to become a major financial backer of Britain’s superfast broadband rollout.

Insiders said on Wednesday that OMERS had indicated a desire to bid on its own for up to 30% of CityFibre, with existing shareholders West Street Infrastructure Partners and Antin Infrastructure Fund holding 35% each.

A successful bid would add CityFibre to a portfolio of UK assets part-owned by OMERS which includes the cinema chain Vue Entertainment and Lifeways, a healthcare provider.

Banking sources said that OMERS would bid against several consortia which are in the process of being formed by rival infrastructure funds.

The stake could cost a winning bidder close to £1bn, valuing the whole of CityFibre at more than £3bn, they added.

Sky News revealed last month that CityFibre had appointed the investment banks UBS and Rothschild to identify a third investor to join West Street – which is backed by Goldman Sachs – and Antin.

In a statement last month, CityFibre said: “We can confirm that we’re exploring a possible expansion of our shareholder base to support the acceleration of our build and possible participation in the BDUK [Building Digital UK] rural programme.”

CityFibre and OMERS both declined to comment further on the process.

CityFibre, which last year bought the infrastructure arm of TalkTalk, has pledged to invest up to £4bn to deploy a full-fibre network that would reach up to 8m premises by 2025.

Such a programme would make the company the largest independent full-fibre platform in the country, and second only to Openreach, which operates at arm’s length from its parent company, BT Group.

The company says that once completed, its network will serve approximately 800,000 businesses, 400,000 public sector sites and 250,000 5G access points.

CityFibre is either building or mobilised in 67 towns and cities, with more than half a million homes now ready for services.

It recently said it was extending its infrastructure to a further 216 towns and villages across the country.

The company has agreements with Vodafone, TalkTalk, Zen and a growing number of other internet services providers across the country to sell services over its networks.

A CityFibre insider said it was now “building at pace due to the favourable regulatory environment developed by [industry regulator] Ofcom for competitive infrastructure investment”.

The company is run by Greg Mesch, its chief executive, and chaired by Steve Holliday, the former National Grid boss.

It has outlined plans to create 11,000 jobs over the next three years to deliver its expansion plan.

A string of smaller players, including Hyperoptic and Gigaclear, have also been set up in recent years to deliver full-fibre connections, prompting analysts to question how many of the new companies are likely to be financially successful.

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