Ufinet International (‘the Company’), a leading independent fibre network operator, today announces that Enel, the multinational power company, has signed an agreement to invest €150 million for a 21% stake in the Company.
This follows the announcement on 14 May 2018 that international private equity firm, Cinven (through its Sixth Fund), agreed to acquire Ufinet International for an undisclosed consideration. Post-completion, Cinven will retain a 79% majority shareholding in the Company.
Ufinet International provides fibre infrastructure and transmission services to telecom operators across 14 countries including Colombia, Panama, Guatemala and Costa Rica. Its international connectivity network has more than 49,200 kilometres of optical fibre deployed across major cities in the regions in which it operates.
Enel is a leading integrated player in the global power, gas and renewables markets. It is Europe’s largest utility and one of Europe’s leading power companies. Operating across more than 30 countries worldwide with around 72 million customers, it is one of the major independent operators in the energy sector of South America, where it serves more than 26 million customers. It operates in the generation, distribution and transmission sectors through its subsidiaries in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Peru. It is also one of the leading players in the region’s green energy sector.
The partnership between Ufinet International and Enel represents the opportunity to create the largest telecom infrastructure company in Latin America, with significant strategic benefits for Ufinet International, including:
- Access to additional capital to increase the Company’s international presence through a combination of value-accretive M&A, and further capital investment to expand existing networks, accelerating organic growth;
- The ability to leverage Enel’s assets in certain Latin American markets (including Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Peru) to deploy fibre for wholesale services and fibre to the home (‘FTTH’) neutral networks, as well as lease poles to co-locate mobile sites; and
- The realisation of significant synergies and network benefits, given Enel and Ufinet International have highly complementary geographic coverage and service offerings.
Ufinet International will continue to be led CEO, Iñigo García del Cerro, who said:
“In the past three years, Ufinet International has scaled its network in key Latin American countries. We are now able to leverage our infrastructure to provide new services to our customers, to consolidate and further grow our strong market position, and create additional value for our shareholders.”
“We are delighted to be forming a strategic partnership with Enel who is investing in the business alongside our majority shareholder Cinven. This will enable us to capitalise on the significant growth opportunities in the nascent Latin American markets organically and through acquisition, by combining our knowledge and technologies. We believe this is a very positive development for Ufinet International, its employees, partners and customers.”