Antin Infrastructure Partners to acquire communications company Eurofiber

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Antin Infrastructure Partners to acquire communications company Eurofiber

Infrastructure investment manager Antin Infrastructure Partners has reached an agreement with private equity firm Doughty Hanson and Reggeborgh to acquire Eurofiber Group.

Under the agreement Antin Infrastructure Partners will pay a total consideration of €875 million (US$980.3 million) for all the shares in Eurofiber Group

Eurofiber will continue to act as an independent organisation, and business operations and strategy will be maintained under the current management. The new shareholder offers Eurofiber the opportunity to further accelerate its growth in telecommunications infrastructure in and outside of the Netherlands. The transaction is expected to close at the end of May 2015.

Eurofiber has 18,000 kilometres of cable network that covers the Netherlands and stretches into Belgium and Germany. Its meshed infrastructure has already connected over 9,500 locations and 550 business parks. The firm works with a wide range of enterprises: companies, government bodies and non-profit organisations.

Eurofiber was acquired by Doughty Hanson & Co V in May 2012 from Reggeborgh, a Dutch investment company, in a proprietary transaction. Reggeborgh continued to hold a significant minority stake in Eurofiber following the acquisition by Doughty Hanson and will also sell its entire stake in the transaction with Antin.

The sale of Doughty Hanson & Co V's stake in Eurofiber will yield a multiple of 2.5x for the Fund's investors and an expected gross IRR of 35%. It represents the fifth successful exit from the Fund and means that 117% of invested capital has now been returned to investors, with three further assets remaining before the portfolio is fully realised.

Alex Goldblum, CEO of Eurofiber Group:

"We are very enthusiastic about the acquisition by Antin Infrastructure Partners. Antin IP has fully endorsed our business model of open telecommunication networks and, with its long term horizon and investment appetite, gives our customers, employees and other important stakeholders certainty over future operations."

According to Stéphane Ifker, Partner of Antin Infrastructure Partners who led the transaction:

"We have long identified optical fiber networks as a highly attractive asset class. It exhibits very robust infrastructure characteristics as it provides an essential service in hosting increasing data flows and meeting soaring business connectivity requirements. Eurofiber is a well-established player in a high growth market which benefits from a unique nationwide network with high capillarity."

Alain Rauscher, Managing Partner and CEO of Antin Infrastructure Partners, commented:

"We have seen firsthand that the company has a highly talented management team with a track record of successful add-on acquisitions and integrations. We look forward to working with the management in the same vein, having identified the opportunity to further expand the network footprint both organically and through M&A."

Reggeborgh Group Executive, Henry Holterman:

"We have seen Eurofiber develop from a young company to a national player. The fiber industry develops more and more towards an infrastructural market. It is therefore only logical that a more strategic partner like Antin IP takes over now."

Pascal Keutgens, Senior Principal at Doughty Hanson, said:

"We have enjoyed working with Alex Goldblum and his excellent team at Eurofiber to deliver significant value for all our stakeholders and we wish them well in the future"

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