The return from the sale of EV’s stake to H2O’s management team is is equivalent to 3.6 times the firm’s original investment. EV first invested in H2O in September 2006, with a further round of funding in mid-2007.

Richard Bamford, executive chairman of EV, says the sale is evidence that ‘even during these very difficult recessionary times, there are high growth investment opportunities in the English regions’.

Merseyside-based H2O Networks deploys fibre optic cable in the UK’s sewage infrastructure in order to build broadband networks faster than by traditional methods of road digging.

Legal advisors involved in the transaction were Laytons Solictors which acted for EV, Addleshaws which represented the company and Capsticks on behalf of the management team.