Cordiant Digital Infrastructure, which raised £370m (€425m) in February, has announced the deployment or commitment of almost all of the net proceeds from its initial public offering (IPO).
The London-listed digital infrastructure fund has bought České Radiokomunikace (CRA) in the Czech Republic from funds managed by Macquarie Asset Management and agreed to buy a Norwegian fibre network and certain land for data centre development for a combined total consideration of £451m, comprising £318m of equity and the assumption of an amount equal to £133m of debt.
Following the completion of the Norwegian acquisition, Cordiant Digital will have uninvested proceeds from the IPO of approximately £43.4m, the company said.
Cordiant Digital said the acquisitions of telecommunications firm CRA and the Norwegian assets provide the company with a base of stable, cash-generative assets with long-term contracts in operational areas the Cordiant Capital team understands well.
Steven Marshall, chairman of Cordiant Digital Infrastructure, said: “We are delighted to have acquired České Radiokomunikace from Macquarie. České Radiokomunikace is a national champion with an unrivalled portfolio of assets in a core European country.
Marshall said the Norwegian long-distance fibre-optic network is profitable and ideally located to support future growth in the digital infrastructure market in Scandinavia.
“We look forward to supporting further expansion and growth of this network with the existing management team.”
Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund II, Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund III, and Macquarie Mercer Infrastructure Trust invested in CRA in 2011.
Martin Gebauer, head of Central and Eastern Europe for Macquarie Asset Management’s infrastructure team, said: “We are proud to have supported České Radiokomunikace’s growth story over the past decade as it has evolved from a traditional broadcasting infrastructure owner and operator, into a leading digital infrastructure platform.”
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