3i Infrastructure is investing €182m for a 60% stake in German telecommunications provider DNSNET.
The London-listed investment trust said it is buying its stake from Deutsche Beteiligungs (DBAG), the DBAG managed DBAG ECF fund and founder and CEO Alexander Lucke. Lucke is reinvesting alongside 3i Infrastructure to retain a 40% stake.
Established in 1998, DNSNET owns the largest independent fibre-to-the-cabinet network in the Berlin area, as well as three data centres. In recent years, DNSNET has commenced a fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) rollout which it now plans to accelerate with 3i Infrastructure’s backing.
“In 3i, we have found the best partner to accelerate our further FTTH rollout. We plan a very significant investment in fibre infrastructure to bring Internet at Gigabit speed to the people, starting in the Berlin/Brandenburg area and Saxony-Anhalt,” Lucke, said.
Richard Laing, Chair of 3i Infrastructure, said: “DNSNET is an asset-intensive business delivering an essential service in a sector with strong underlying demand trends.
“It is a high growth asset which will further diversify our portfolio, giving 3i Infrastructure sizeable exposure to the German infrastructure market for the first time.”
Phil White, managing partner and head of infrastructure, 3i Investments, investment manager of 3i Infrastructure, said: “For businesses and consumers alike, fibre connectivity is increasingly a necessity as data and computing power moves to the cloud.”
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