Tag Archives: Telecom

Cegeka reinforces international position by acquiring KPN Consulting

GIMV

Cegeka and telco company KPN have agreed to sell KPN Consulting to Cegeka. KPN Consulting, which comprises all activities of KPN ICT Consulting and Call2, offers a wide array of bespoke ICT advice and support services regarding, among other things, ICT strategy, cloud services, and data analysis. The transaction fits into Cegeka’s Northern Europe growth strategy. This acquisition will see the Hasselt-based IT company double its turnover in the Netherlands, making it one of the country’s biggest IT service providers. KPN Consulting employs 750 staff and 250 contractors.

As part of the transaction, KPN and Cegeka will partner up to ensure services to KPN customers continue without interruption. According to the terms of this partnership, Cegeka will continue to provide advice and support services to KPN as its preferred provider.

Karim Henkens

“KPN Consulting’s services integrate seamlessly into the portfolio of Cegeka’s Dutch branch, presenting us with a strategic advantage. Customers can count on Cegeka as a reliable IT partner helping them to remain relevant in a quickly evolving digital world. The operation lets us strengthen our market position in the Netherlands, allowing us to keep on growing.”

Karim Henkens, Managing Director Netherlands, DACH and Nordics.

KPN Consulting’s services will be continued under the Cegeka name. For KPN, this transaction is in line with its strategy to speed up corporate simplification and to focus on its most important ICT services in the B2B market.

“This is an important step for Cegeka in our continuing international growth. Thanks to this acquisition, our activities in the Netherlands are now the same size as those in Belgium, dovetailing perfectly with our strategy. Also, local embeddedness is a strategic means for us to be closer to our customers, with additional presence in the north and west of the Netherlands.”

Stijn Bijnens, CEO Cegeka Group.

 

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EWE sets course for further growth with investor Ardian

Ardian

Transaction comprises 26% of shares in EWE, one of Germany’s largest utility companies, emphasising Ardian’s focus on renewables, telecommunications and networks

Oldenburg / Paris / Düsseldorf, 6 December 2019 – EWE and EWE-Verband today agreed on the transfer of 26% of EWE AG’s shares to Ardian, the world-leading private investment house and long-term infrastructure investor. Once the transaction has been completed, the partners will work together to accelerate EWE’s growth, investing particularly in the strategic areas of renewable energy, telecommunications and networks. EWE and EWE-Verband had been gradually acquiring shares back from former partner EnBW since Autumn 2015 with plans to find a new investor. The closing of the transaction is subject to the approval of the German Federal Cartel Office, which is expected in the first quarter of 2020. The companies are not disclosing the financial details of the transaction. Once the transaction has been completed, the following companies will hold a stake in EWE AG: EWE-Verband, with 74% (59% Weser-Ems-Energiebeteiligungen GmbH, 15% Energieverband Elbe-Weser Beteiligungsholding GmbH) and Ardian with 26%.

Stefan Dohler, Chief Executive Officer of EWE AG, said: “With Ardian, we will have a strategic growth partner with extensive experience in the pan-European infrastructure sector with thinking just as long-term, prudent and sustainable as ours. It was important to us that the new investor supports EWE’s strategic goals and helps us on our path of change and growth with opportunities from its investment portfolio. We know where we intend to go. We continue to make progress with our move towards becoming an innovative solution provider, offering integrated services and products for energy, communication, networked data and mobility. We want to play an active role in shaping the climate-friendly and digitalised future of energy and communications, and set positive standards based on a position of regional strength. With its entrepreneurial approach to this path, Ardian is the strong partner we have been looking for.”

Heiner Schönecke, Managing Director of EWE-Verband, added: “Historically rooted in northwest Germany and with traditionally strong minority shareholders as long-term partners, EWE has grown into a company that has always made a major contribution to regional development. EWE retains close ties to the Ems/Weser/Elbe region via the districts and free cities that are part of EWE-Verband. One aspect that was important to us was that the new investor saw the company’s regional roots and local character as a strength. Ardian also offers access to further growth capital and innovative technologies.”

Bernhard Bramlage, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of EWE AG, added: “Today’s agreement marks the successful completion of the structured process to transfer the EWE shares bought back from EnBW to an investor who supports EWE’s strategic objectives. At every stage of the process, everyone involved from EWE AG, EWE-Verband and the EWE Supervisory Board worked together to achieve a result that would translate into stability and further growth for the company, and I congratulate them on this achievement.”

Mathias Burghardt, member of Ardian’s Executive Committee and Head of Infrastructure at Ardian, added: “As Europe’s leading investor in infrastructure, we make long-term commitments to companies that play a key role in people’s everyday lives and actively promote the energy revolution. With its activities in the areas of energy, telecommunications, networks, data and mobility, EWE is leading the way in efforts to bring about the energy revolution, while at the same time taking into account the needs of all its stakeholders such as customers, employees and the region as a whole. Ardian fully supports EWE’s innovation-focused strategy.”

Benoît Gaillochet, Senior Managing Director in Ardian’s infrastructure team, added: “In addition to our role as co-shareholder, our stated objective is to develop our industrial partnership with EWE in the interest of EWE employees, society and the region. Together, we want to help shape the energy revolution. EWE is the ideal platform to achieve further growth and we look forward to making further investments with EWE.”

Michael Reuther, a Director in Ardian’s infrastructure team responsible for the shareholding in EWE, added: “EWE’s customers will benefit from targeted investments in cutting-edge infrastructure and top-quality products. EWE employees know that their jobs in a climate-friendly company are secure and attractive in the long term. Both the region and society can rely on a sustainable supplier with regional roots, access to growth capital and innovative technologies.”

Ardian is one of the world’s leading independent investment companies, managing US$96 billion in assets for its investors in Europe, South and North America and Asia, including over EUR 10 billion from 90 German pension funds and insurance companies. Its largest investor group in its latest fund, Ardian Infrastructure Fund V, is from Germany, representing more than 20% of the fund volume of EUR 6.1 billion. Furthermore, Talanx insurance group will support Ardian and EWE as a co-investor in Lower Saxony. For Ardian, its investment in EWE is the starting point for its plans to develop a German growth platform based in Düsseldorf, which will be managed by an experienced team of German managers.

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EWE AG

EWE is an innovative service provider active in the business areas of energy, telecommunications and information technology. With over 8,500 employees and sales of around EUR 5.7 billion in 2018, EWE is one of the largest utility companies in Germany. The company, based in Oldenburg, Lower Saxony, is primarily owned by the local government. It provides electricity to around 1.4 million customers in northwest Germany, Brandenburg, the island of Rügen and parts of Poland, and supplies natural gas to almost 0.8 million customers. It also provides approximately 0.7 million customers with telecommunications services. To achieve this, the various companies in the EWE Group operate over 190,000 kilometres of electricity grid, natural gas grid and telecommunications networks. EWE intends to invest over EUR 1.2 billion in a comprehensive fibre-optic expansion over the coming years, creating the foundation for the digitalisation of northwest Germany.
More information on EWE can be found at:
www.ewe.com

EWE-Verband

The Ems-Weser-Elbe Versorgungs- und Entsorgungsverband (EWE-Verband) is an alliance formed of 21 municipalities in the Ems/Weser/Elbe region. Its core task is to safeguard the energy supply in the alliance’s region. EWE-Verband is the indirect majority shareholder of EWE AG through its investment companies. The alliance was created in 2006 following the merger of Landeselektrizitätsverband Oldenburg (LEV) and Energieverband Elbe-Weser (EEW). As an alliance, EWE-Verband is a public corporation as defined by Sections 7 et seq. of the Lower Saxony Act on Municipal Cooperation (NKomZG). 17 districts and four cities have been part of EWE-Verband since it was founded.
To find out more about EWE-Verband, visit:
www.ewe-verband.de

Ardian

Ardian is a world-leading private investment house with assets of US$96bn managed or advised in Europe, the Americas and Asia. The company is majority-owned by its employees. It keeps entrepreneurship at its heart and focuses on delivering excellent investment performance to its global investor base. Through its commitment to shared outcomes for all stakeholders, Ardian’s activities fuel individual, corporate and economic growth around the world. Holding close its core values of excellence, loyalty and entrepreneurship, Ardian maintains a truly global network, with more than 640 employees working from fifteen offices across Europe (Frankfurt, Jersey, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Milan, Paris and Zurich), the Americas (New York, San Francisco and Santiago) and Asia (Beijing, Singapore, Tokyo and Seoul). It manages funds on behalf of more than 1,000 clients through five pillars of investment expertise: Fund of Funds, Direct Funds, Infrastructure, Real Estate and Private Debt.
Ardian on Twitter: @Ardian
www.ardian.com

PRESS CONTACTS

EWE
Christian Blömer
T: +49 441 4805 – 1801
Email: christian.bloemer@ewe.de
ARDIAN
Tobias Eberle & Peter Steiner
T +49 69 794 090 -24/-27
Email: ardian@charlesbarker.fr

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DIF Capital Partners and Cinia to build out fiber optic networks in Finland

DIF

DIF Capital Partners (“DIF”), through its DIF Core Infrastructure Fund I (“DIF CIF”) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a joint venture with Cinia Oy (”Cinia”) to build fiber-to-the-home (“FttH”) networks in Finland.

The joint venture (“Adola”) plans to provide over 100,000 FttH connections to public, private and commercial customers with a focus on Finland’s underserved areas and operates under the consumer brand Täyskuitu (please refer to www.tayskuitu.fi for more information). FttH networks are a key element to enable digital development in business and society, and keep up pace with global digitalization developments. The joint venture with Cinia underlines DIF CIF’s key strategic focus to invest in digital infrastructure. The first project is expected to become operational in the first half of 2020.

DIF’s share in Adola amounts to 80.1%. The remaining 19.9% is held by Cinia, a public Finnish telecom infrastructure provider that owns and operates roughly 15,000 km of fiber optic backbone network in Northern Europe, including a high capacity submarine fiber cable to Germany.

“We are pleased to have established a long term co-operation with Cinia for the roll out of fiber in Finland. This is an excellent opportunity for DIF CIF to invest in high quality projects with a strong local partner and to further expand into the fast growing telecom infrastructure sector” comments Willem Jansonius, Head of DIF CIF.

About DIF Capital Partners

DIF is an independent infrastructure fund manager, with €6.0 billion of assets under management across eight closed-end infrastructure funds and several co-investment vehicles. DIF invests in greenfield and brownfield infrastructure assets located primarily in Europe, the Americas and Australasia through two complementary strategies:

  • DIF Infrastructure funds target equity investments in public-private partnerships (PPP/PFI/P3), concessions, utilities and renewable energy projects with long-term contracted or regulated income streams.
  • DIF CIF funds target equity investments in small to mid-sized infrastructure assets in the energy, transportation and telecom sectors with mid-term contracted income streams.

DIF has a team of over 135 professionals, based in nine offices located in Amsterdam (Schiphol), Frankfurt, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Paris, Santiago, Sydney and Toronto. Please visit www.dif.eu for further information.

Contact:
Allard Ruijs, Partner
Email: a.ruijs@dif.eu

About Cinia

Cinia provides secure high-availability data network and software solutions. Our operations are based on our solid expertise in modern software development, data network technologies and critical operating environments. Our fiber optic network of roughly 15,000 kilometers, including the C-Lion1 submarine cable, enables the fastest data communications solutions to Central Europe and to markets in Asia and Eastern Europe. By combining our services with services of our partners, we can provide reliable and comprehensive solutions that help our customers write their own digital success stories. More information about Cinia: www.cinia.fi/en

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CVC Credit Partners supports the acquisition of Amadys by Equistone

Funding will be used to finance Equistone’s acquisition of Amadys and support the businesses consolidation and internationalisation strategy

CVC Credit Partners is pleased to announce that it is the sole underwriter for the first lien funding in Equistone’s acquisition of Amadys NV (“Amadys”). Equistone will acquire the company from the management and the investment fund Vectis Private Equity. The existing management team, led by CEO Hein Wilderjans, will continue to run the company following the acquisition, which is expected to complete in early 2020.

Amadys is a leading provider of passive network equipment solutions to utility networks, including fixed and mobile telecom networks and water, gas and electricity grids, in Belgium and surrounding countries. The company provides a one-stop-shop solution for a broad range of products and services, ranging from fibre optic cabling and related products, to ducts, closures and covers, often in customised and unique specifications and combinations. Amadys employs more than 100 people across offices in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Hubert van Wolfswinkel, Director at Equistone, said: “Amadys is well-positioned for further growth and to strengthen its presence in Belgium as well as in neighbouring countries. In CVC we are pleased to have gained the support of a lender with knowledge and experience of the sector and the flexibility to fully support the future growth plans of the business.”

Chris Fowler, Managing Director in CVC Credit Partners’ European Private Debt business, added: “Amadys is an attractive business with a bright future. It is a leading player in its market supported by sustainable tailwinds, and enjoys longstanding customer and supplier relationships. We are pleased to be supporting the businesses continued organic growth and plans for consolidation and internationalisation.”

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Partners Group to exit Covage, a leading open-access fiber infrastructure platform in France

Partners Group

Partners Group, the global private markets investment manager, has, on behalf of its clients, entered into exclusive negotiations with a consortium led by Altice, and including Allianz Capital Partners, AXA Investment Managers – Real Assets, acting on behalf of its clients, and OMERS Infrastructure, to sell its 50% stake in Covage (“Covage” or “the Company”). The transaction gives Covage an equity value of EUR 1 billion.

Covage is a leading open-access fiber infrastructure platform with a national footprint across low-, medium-, and high-density areas in France. The Company operates 45 local networks, complemented by a fully-owned national fiber backbone of 9,000 km. Covage’s awarded perimeter includes 2.4 million homes and 21,000 existing connected businesses. Its connections are built and operated under the support of France’s national rural broadband access program, a key social ESG initiative to bridge the digital divide between rural and urban regions.

The sale of Partners Group’s 50% stake in Covage would be the final divestment from Partners Group’s acquisition of Axia NetMedia Corporation, on behalf of its clients, in a public-to-private transaction that resulted in its delisting from the Toronto stock exchange in July 2016. It follows the divestment of the Canadian operations of Axia NetMedia, which were sold to BCE Inc (Bell Canada) in 2018. The sale of Covage is subject to customary regulatory clearances and is expected to take place during the first half of 2020.

Esther Peiner, Managing Director, Private Infrastructure Europe, Partners Group, comments: “We are very proud of our contribution to the strong growth Covage has experienced over our holding period. Consistent with our platform expansion strategy, significant capital investments from the shareholders have enabled Covage to deliver a material increase in high bandwidth connectivity nationwide and establish itself as a leading provider in the French communication infrastructure market. Partners Group, through the Covage board, worked with CEO Pascal Rialland and his team to successfully institutionalize the fiber roll-out and commercialization framework of the Company, thus demonstrating the considerable value that can be added through entrepreneurial governance.”

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EQT Infrastructure to merge IP-Only and GlobalConnect

eqt

  • EQT Infrastructure to merge IP-Only and GlobalConnect to create a leading Northern European fiber-based datacom provider and supplier of cloud enabling infrastructure
  • The merger strengthens the combined company’s product and service offering in driving digital transformation for both B2B and B2C customers and provides a solid platform for accelerated investments in new technologies and continued fiber rollout
  • EQT Infrastructure is committed to actively supporting the combined company for further growth and expansion in key markets

EQT today announces the intention to combine EQT Infrastructure III and IV (“EQT Infrastructure”) portfolio companies GlobalConnect and IP-Only. The combined entity will be better positioned to serve the growing demand of national and international customers, and the scale of the combined organization will allow strengthened innovation and investment to bring new technologies and solutions faster to the market.

IP-Only owns and operates approximately 16,000 km fiber-based network infrastructure that, together with leased lines, covers 230 out of 290 Swedish municipalities. The company today connects more than 200,000 homes and serves more than 3,000 business customers.

GlobalConnect is the leading alternative fiber-based data communication and data center services provider in Norway, Denmark and Northern Germany. In total, the company owns and operates approximately 42,000 km of fiber-based network and 18,000 sqm of data center space, used to offer a full range of communication infrastructure services including bandwidth connectivity, colocation and cloud infrastructure to a range of businesses. GlobalConnect has around 24,000 business customers and serves around 83,000 private customers in Norway through its Homenet brand.

The intended merger between IP-Only and GlobalConnect will accelerate the two companies’ growth agendas. The combination will create a leading digital infrastructure provider to businesses, public institutions and consumers with comprehensive national and cross-border fiber networks and a unique position in Northern Europe.

In 2018 the two companies had combined revenues of approximately EUR 520 million and employ more than 1,500 people across the Nordics and Northern Germany.

Martin Lippert, CEO of GlobalConnect, will lead the joint organization. Lippert comments: “The vision of merging IP-Only and GlobalConnect is to create a leading provider of digital infrastructure for businesses, public institutions and fiber networks to consumers in the Nordics and Northern Germany, and we will have both the scale and competencies to deliver on that vision. Together, we can rapidly and more vigorously expand our infrastructure and offer the newest products and services to our customers.”

Daniel Perez, Partner at EQT Partners and Investment Advisor to EQT Infrastructure, comments: “We are deeply impressed with the development of GlobalConnect since the creation of the Danish-Norwegian group in 2018 and consider a merger between GlobalConnect and IP-Only to be a natural next step in our strategy to build the leading Northern European provider of integrated digital infrastructure.”

Masoud Homayoun, Partner at EQT Partners and Investment Advisor to EQT Infrastructure, concludes: “Based on similar strategic development trajectories and ambitions, we believe that a merger between IP-Only and GlobalConnect will create a combined organization and fiber networks with a compelling position in the region, and EQT will continue to support proactive investments to the benefit of customers and partners.”

The merger is expected to be implemented and a new organizational structure will be designed in the coming months. The two companies will continue to operate as separate entities with separate names and brands until further notice.

Contacts
Masoud Homayoun, Partner at EQT Partners and Investment Advisor to EQT Infrastructure, +46 8 506 553 48Daniel Perez, Partner at EQT Partners and Investment Advisor to EQT Infrastructure, +46 8 506 553 90
EQT Press office, +46 8 506 55 334, press@eqtpartners.com

About EQT
EQT is a differentiated global investment organization with more than EUR 62 billion in raised capital and around EUR 41 billion in assets under management across 20 active funds. EQT funds have portfolio companies in Europe, Asia and the US with total sales of more than EUR 21 billion and approximately 127,000 employees. EQT works with portfolio companies to achieve sustainable growth, operational excellence and market leadership.

More info: www.eqtgroup.com
Follow EQT on Twitter and LinkedIn

About IP-Only
IP-Only is a fast-growing independent provider of high capacity fiber-based data communication to consumers and enterprises in Sweden. IP-Only owns and operates high-capacity fiber network infrastructure. Founded in 1999, IP-Only today owns and operates ~16,000 km fiber-based network infrastructure that, together with leased lines, covers 230 out of 290 Swedish municipalities. The Company connects more than 200,000 homes and serves more than 3,000 companies.

IP-Only has more than 600 employees, revenues of SEK 2.0 billion in 2018 and headquarter in Stockholm and Uppsala in Sweden.

More info: www.ip-only.se

About GlobalConnect
GlobalConnect is the leading alternative fiber-based data communication and data center services provider in Norway, Denmark and Northern Germany. In total, the company operates approximately 42,000 km of fiber and 18,000 sqm of data center space, used to offer a full range of communication infrastructure services including bandwidth connectivity, colocation and cloud infrastructure to a range of businesses. GlobalConnect har has 24,000 B2B customers and also serves 83,000 private customers in Norway through its Homenet brand.

GlobalConnect has more than 900 employees, revenues of DKK 2.5 billion in 2018 and headquarter in Taastrup, Denmark and Fornebu, Norway.

More info: www.globalconnect.dk

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CapMan Infra and Telia Company to accelerate roll-out of fibre networks in Finland

CapMan Infra press release
31 October 2019 at 09.00 a.m. EET

CapMan Infra and Telia Company to accelerate roll-out of fibre networks in Finland

CapMan Infra has agreed on a majority investment in a joint venture to be established with Telia Company to invest into and deploy fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) infrastructure in Finland. The joint venture will acquire Telia Finland’s existing Avoin Kuitu fibre assets and will be one of the largest FTTH network owners and operators in Finland.

One of the key goals in the Finnish Government Programme 2019 is promoting the construction of more extensive optical fibre networks throughout Finland to enable better digital infrastructure and fast broadband access across the country. Achieving this goal requires substantial investments and a reliable operator specialising in the fibre market. CapMan Infra and Telia are rising to the challenge by establishing a joint venture to accelerate the roll-out of fibre infrastructure. The joint venture will take over Telia Finland’s Avoin Kuitu existing FTTH business and increase the pace of investments to make fibre available across Finland. The business currently builds and operates fibre assets primarily in Finnish growth centres and surrounding areas, serving around 12 municipalities.

“Reliable and fast network connections are a core foundation for modern society. They improve quality of life by enabling living and working across the country. The efficient implementation of large investment projects is at the core of our team’s expertise, and the new ownership model with Telia allows us to make long-term commitments to roll-out fibre networks across Finland. We are delighted to work with a market-leading operator to establish a stand-alone open access fibre provider,” comments Harri Halonen, Partner at CapMan Infra.

Global trends and consumption patterns are increasingly driving the need for fast and reliable data connections. Video-on-demand, online gaming and the increasing number of connected devices require fast and reliable network connections, which 4G or even 5G networks are unable to guarantee in the long-term, given the exponential increase in the amount of data being transferred.

“I’m really happy that we have come to this agreement with CapMan Infra which fits very well with Telia Company’s strategy of having superior network connectivity while adding to our commercial success through convergence and great customer experience. The network roll-out will play an important role for Finland to maintain its position at the very forefront of digitalization. This new type of structure with a partnership ties well with our ambition of disciplined allocation where we, case by case and market by market, seek a good balance between the risk and reward and potential future technology shifts as well as short versus long-term thinking,” says Stein-Erik Vellan, Senior Vice President, Head of Telia Finland.

The transaction is expected to close in the beginning of 2020 with completion conditional on customary approvals from competition authorities.

CapMan Infra’s investment focus is core and core+ infrastructure assets in the energy, transportation and telecom sectors in the Nordics. CapMan Infra held the first close on its midcap Nordic infrastructure fund in October 2018, and the fund invested in the Norwegian ferry operator Norled earlier this year. The CapMan Infra team comprises 7 investment professionals and operates from Helsinki and Stockholm with a total of 70 years of sector experience. The team has also completed investments on a mandate basis in Nordic infrastructure opportunities.

For further information, please contact:
Harri Halonen, Partner, CapMan Infra, tel. +46 768 71 0062

About CapMan
CapMan is a leading Nordic private asset expert with an active approach to value creation. We offer a wide selection of investment products and services. As one of the Nordic private equity pioneers, we have developed hundreds of companies and real estate assets and created substantial value in these businesses and assets over the past 30 years. With over €3 billion in assets under management, our objective is to provide attractive returns and innovative solutions to investors. We have a broad presence in the unlisted market through our local and specialised teams. Our investment strategies cover Private Equity, Real Estate and Infra. We also have a growing service business that includes procurement services, fundraising advisory, and analysis, reporting and wealth management services. Altogether, CapMan employs 140 people in Helsinki, Stockholm, Copenhagen, London, Moscow and Luxembourg. www.capman.com

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KKR Acquires Majority Stake in Hyperoptic

KKR

  • UK’s largest residential gigabit broadband provider welcomes new investor
  • Hyperoptic’s gigabit capable fibre network expected to quadruple in the next three years
  • Strong potential for future deployment of full fibre services in UK, from only 8% coverage today

LONDON & NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Oct. 14, 2019– KKR, a leading global investment firm, today announced that it has completed the acquisition of a majority stake in Hyperoptic Ltd, the UK’s largest residential gigabit broadband provider, from funds managed by Newlight Partners LP (“Newlight”) and Mubadala Investment Company. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

Hyperoptic will continue to be led by Chief Executive Officer Dana Tobak, CBE and Executive Chairman Boris Ivanovic. Founded in 2011, Hyperoptic benefits from a full fibre network covering 43 towns and cities across the UK, with gigabit broadband services passing almost 400,000 homes and businesses.

Dana Tobak stated, “We are incredibly grateful to Newlight and Mubadala for their unwavering support and significant contributions to the success of Hyperoptic. Currently, only 8% of the UK has access to full fibre and less than half of that to symmetrical gigabit services.

We are confident that with the support of KKR and their significant expertise enabling high-growth businesses, our ambitious infrastructure plans to build our hyperfast network out to two million homes by 2021 and five million by 2024 will be realised.”

Vincent Policard, Member, and Cristina Gonzalez, Director in European Infrastructure at KKR, said, “Hyperoptic has a market-leading position and superior consumer product. The business is strongly positioned to meet the growing demand for full-fibre services in the UK through further investment and national roll-out, supporting housing development and renovation. Our investment in Hyperoptic builds on KKR’s strong track record in telecommunications infrastructure in Europe, investing in and deploying next-generation digital connectivity.”

David Wassong and Ravi Yadav, co-Managing Partners at Newlight, said, “We are extremely proud to have partnered with the Hyperoptic team during its formative years to build the leading fibre broadband provided in the UK. The roll out of its hyperfast network is poised to expand rapidly in the next few years and we will continue to cheer them on from the sidelines.”

“Mubadala is proud to have been part of the Hyperoptic journey. Our ICT sector strategy is focused on investments in high growth companies with excellent management, and Hyperoptic is a prime example of that,” said Mounir Barakat, Executive Director of ICT, Mubadala.

KKR’s investment builds on the firm’s track record as an owner and operator of European telecommunications infrastructure, including major joint ventures with Telxius and Altice in Spain and France respectively focused on mobile connectivity and towers, along with its ownership of Deutsche Glasfaser, a leading German fibre broadband provider. The investment in Hyperoptic is being made through KKR’s Global Infrastructure Investors Fund III.

LionTree Advisors acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Hyperoptic and the selling shareholders in connection with the transaction.

-ENDS-

About KKR

KKR is a leading global investment firm that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate and credit, with strategic partners that manage hedge funds. KKR aims to generate attractive investment returns for its fund investors by following a patient and disciplined investment approach, employing world-class people, and driving growth and value creation with KKR portfolio companies. KKR invests its own capital alongside the capital it manages for fund investors and provides financing solutions and investment opportunities through its capital markets business. References to KKR’s investments may include the activities of its sponsored funds. For additional information about KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE: KKR), please visit KKR’s website at www.kkr.com and on Twitter @KKR_Co.

About Hyperoptic

Hyperoptic was founded in 2011 to shake up the UK broadband market and is now the country’s largest and fastest-growing gigabit network provider. It delivers the nation’s fastest broadband speeds of up to 1Gbps (1,000 megabits per second), which is over 18x faster than the UK average.

Hyperoptic is a leader in “full” fibre optic technology, delivering fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP), not just fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC). Its future-proofed infrastructure is bringing transformational internet speeds and connection stability to millions of people across the UK.

Hyperoptic works with property owners, developers and professionals, designing and installing dedicated fibre infrastructure to new buildings and existing developments.

Working with more than 200 property developers, Hyperoptic is live in 43 towns and cities with an ambition to reach 5 million homes and businesses by 2024.

The company was awarded ‘Best Superfast Broadband’ provider by the Internet Service Providers’ Association for six years in a row. In 2019 it received awards for ‘Best Customer Service’ and ‘Best Business ISP’. It has also featured in the Sunday Times Hiscox Tech Track 100 for the last three years – the UK’s private tech companies with the fastest-growing sales.

Hyperoptic encourages every customer to leave a review on Trustpilot, where it has a 5* rating – significantly higher than other UK broadband providers – and it continues to stay high despite customer numbers growing rapidly.

About Newlight Partners LP

Newlight Partners LP (Newlight) is a private investment firm focused on collaborating with management teams and strategic investors to build unique, durable businesses, predominantly in North America. For more than 15 years, the Newlight team has helped build successful enterprises in five sectors, including financial services, telecommunications, power and renewable energy, healthcare services and business services. Led by David Wassong and Ravi Yadav, Newlight has invested approximately $6 billion in over 100 investments since 2005, first as the Strategic Investments Group at Soros Fund Management LLC (Soros), and now as Newlight after the team’s spin out from Soros in 2018. Newlight has approximately $4 billion in capital commitments and assets under management.

Source: KKR

KKR
Alastair Elwen
Finsbury
+44 20 7251 3801
Alastair.elwen@finsbury.com

Newlight
Jonathan Gasthalter / Nathaniel Garnick
Gasthalter & Co.
212-257-4170

Hyperoptic
Kathryn Williamson
+44 7598 790515
Kathryn.williamson@hyperoptic.co.uk

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Loopia acquires Binero Group’s mass hosting business to further strengthen its leading position in the Swedish market

Axcel

Loopia has signed an agreement with Binero Group AB (publ.) to acquire its web hosting business in Sweden and Germany. The business provides web hosting and domain registrations to small and medium sized companies and consumers and will be carved out in a transaction expected to close on August 31, 2019. For Loopia, this is another step towards having the scale to provide an even better user experience for our many customers.

The business that Loopia is acquiring offers web hosting and domain registration to small and medium size enterprises and consumers in a subscription model. The customer base and services fit well into the Loopia Group and the combined team will join forces to pursue Loopia’s ambition to deliver a superior user experience, technological innovations and outstanding local support to our customers. The purchase price was approximately SEK 380 million.

– ​We are excited to welcome employees and customers alike into the Loopia Group. Combined, we will be a clear leader in Sweden and stronger in Germany. This strengthens our capacity to invest in creating the best user experience for our many customers, says Sara Laurell, CEO of Loopia Group.

Loopia Group is an innovative European web services and hosting business with operations in Sweden, in Central Eastern Europe, and across Western Europe. This is a milestone in Loopia Group’s growth journey and follows the acquisitions of .SE Direkt with 116,000 domains in Sweden on February 12, 2019 and of WebSupport – the #1 provider in Slovakia – on March 31, 2019.

Since June 2018, Loopia Group has been owned by Axcel, a Nordic private equity firm focusing on mid-market companies. ABG Sundal Collier acted as exclusive financial adviser in the transaction.

For more information, please contact:
Sara Laurell
CEO Loopia Group
+46 72 708 4848
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Blackstone to Partner with Leading French Dark Fiber Provider Sipartech

Blackstone

Paris, France, October 4, 2019 – Blackstone (NYSE:BX) today announced the signing of definitive documentation by Blackstone Tactical Opportunities (“Blackstone”) to form an equity partnership with Sipartech S.A. (“Sipartech”), a provider of telecom infrastructure solutions in France. Sipartech holds a leading position in the deployment of dark fiber, with a focus on serving data center and hyperscaler customers that are the largest consumers of wholesale data connectivity.

Blackstone will acquire its stake from growth equity investor Summit Partners, who invested in the business alongside Founder & CEO Julien Santina in 2016. The transaction is expected to close in late 2019, subject to regulatory approval; financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

“Sipartech has established a world-class and differentiated network infrastructure in France focused on the most demanding and complex connectivity requirements,” said Jasvinder Khaira, a Senior Managing Director in Blackstone’s Tactical Opportunities Group. “Providing growth capital to founders to accelerate their growth is a hallmark of Blackstone’s investments in the telecom and internet infrastructure sector, and we are thrilled to support Julien and the rest of the management team as they expand their presence in the European marketplace.”

“We expect France to be at the intersection of exponential growth in fiber connectivity needs in Europe over the coming years. Investing in Sipartech substantially augments our European digital infrastructure presence, and we are excited to support the Company’s ongoing remarkable growth in France and across continental Europe,” said Thomas Senecal, also of Blackstone Tactical Opportunities.

“We have done a great job with Summit Partners over the last 3 years. As we enter the next chapter of our growth, we are proud and very excited to partner with Blackstone Tactical Opportunities, who shares our vision and will support us in our ambitious growth plans,” said Julien Santina, Sipartech’s majority shareholder and CEO.

“Julien and the Sipartech team have built a market leading fiber network in France and an impressive business. They have delivered growth that has outpaced the incumbents, and we believe the business is very well positioned for the future. It has truly been an honor to work alongside the team as the company has scaled,” said Christian Strain, a Managing Director with Summit Partners.

Sipartech is among the fastest growing dark fiber providers in France, with a strong presence in Paris and other major French metropolitan centers. The company was founded in 2008 by Julien Santina and has grown into a leading provider of B2B and wholesale dark fiber services and other telecom services. Headquartered in Paris, Sipartech owns and operates over 3,000km of fiber across France.

Blackstone was advised by Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP. Sipartech was advised by Lazard Frères & Co and Paul Hastings LLP, and Summit Partners was advised by Latham & Watkins LLP.

About Blackstone

Blackstone is one of the world’s leading investment firms. We seek to create positive economic impact and long-term value for our investors, the companies we invest in, and the communities in which we work. We do this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help companies solve problems. Our asset management businesses, with $545 billion in assets under management, include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, growth equity, opportunistic, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds, all on a global basis. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow Blackstone on Twitter @Blackstone.

About Tactical Opportunities
Tac Opps is Blackstone’s opportunistic investment platform.  The Tac Opps team invests globally across asset classes, industries and geographies, seeking to identify and execute on attractive, differentiated investment opportunities.  As part of the strategy, the team leverages the intellectual capital across Blackstone’s various businesses while continuously optimizing its approach in the face of ever-changing market conditions.

About Summit Partners
Founded in 1984, Summit Partners is a global alternative investment firm that is currently managing more than $19 billion in capital dedicated to growth equity, fixed income and public equity opportunities. Summit invests across growth sectors of the economy and has invested in more than 500 companies in technology, healthcare and other growth industries. Summit has backed more than 60 communications technology businesses, including Acacia Communications, Accedian Networks, Casa Systems, Finisar, Fuze, MACOM and Ubiquiti. Summit maintains offices in North America and Europe, and invests in companies around the world. For more information, please see www.summitpartners.com or on Twitter at @SummitPartners.

In the United States of America, Summit Partners operates as an SEC-registered investment advisor. In the United Kingdom, this document is issued by Summit Partners LLP, a firm authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Summit Partners LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales with registered number OC388179 and its registered office is at 11-12 Hanover Square, London, W1S 1JJ, UK. This document is intended solely to provide information regarding Summit Partners’ potential financing capabilities for prospective portfolio companies.

About Sipartech
Founded in 2008 by Julien Santina, Sipartech is a leading neutral and independent European infrastructure carrier. Sipartech provides a wide portfolio of connectivity products and services to more than 500 customers in the world, including data centers, hyperscalers, enterprises, and telecom operators. : www.sipartech.com

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Blackstone:
Ramesh Chhabra
+44 20 7451 4053
ramesh.chhabra@blackstone.com

Paula Chirhart
+1-212-583-5011
paula.chirhart@blackstone.com

Sipartech:
Isabelle Saint-Pol
+33 (0)1 84 13 01 00
contact@sipartech.com

Summit Partners:
Meg Devine
+1 617 824 1047
mdevine@summitpartners.com

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