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According to industry sources, the deal will be worth over €1 billion
Today, Swedish private equity firm EQT has announced that it will sell Spanish teleco Adamo to Ardian Infrastructure.
Financial details of the deal were not disclosed, but media reports suggest that the value should be in excess of €1 billion.
EQT acquired a majority stake in the Adamo back in 2017 and since then the operator has grown enormously, increasing their network from 100,000 premises passed with fibre-to-the-home (FTTH), located entirely in Catalonia, to around 1.8 million homes across the country.
Initially, the company operated on a purely retail model, but has since transitioned to an open access model, serving four of the five national operators in the Spanish market, as well as 160 smaller players.
Currently, Adamo itself has around 250,000 subscribers to its landline, broadband, and mobile services.
“Adamo was EQT Private Equity’s first investment in Spain, and it represents our second successful exit," said Carlos Santana, partner and head of the EQT Private Equity advisory team in Spain. "As a Spaniard, I am deeply proud to see the positive impact Adamo is having on the development of Spain’s digital infrastructure, especially in areas with limited access to broadband services.”
Subject to regulatory approval, the deal will close in early 2022.
In related news, Telefonica was recently reported as considering the sale of a minority stake in its Spanish fibre unit, as the operator struggles to reduce its debt in a highly competitive market. The network is the largest fibre-to-the-home network in Europe, covering around 26.1 million premises, and has a market value of around €15 billion.
EQT, meanwhile, has also been in the news recently for more ignoble reasons. Swedish regulators opened an investigation into the firm’s potential abuse of the market late last month, with EQT accused of failing to disclose insider information promptly prior to a $2.7 billion share sale by top executives.
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