Private equity investment major Partners Group has picked up a 75% stake in Italian broadband provider EOLO to value the business at more than €1.2bn.
Partners Group bought the stake from private equity house Searchlight Capital Partners, which invested in the company in 2018.
The remaining 25% of equity will continue to be owned by the vehicle controlled by EOLO founder and CEO Luca Spada.
Partners Group said it planned to expand EOLO into a European platform. The company is already a domestic leader in Italy, with its network covering about 80% of the country’s households.
Livio Fenati, managing director and co-head of private infrastructure Europe at Partners Group, said, “EOLO benefits from transformative trends driving increased digitization, ubiquitous connectivity and network densification, which are the themes that guide our investment approach to digital infrastructure.
“Fixed wireless access technology offers a competitive broadband solution for rural and semi-urban areas due to its competitive speed, low roll-out cost and ease of deployment, and will have significant positive impact on Italy’s rural population by enhancing its internet connectivity.
“Our vision is to build on EOLO’s domestic leadership position and transform the Company into a leading European fixed wireless access broadband platform.”
Doris Schürch, member of management in the private infrastructure Europe team at Partners Group, added, “EOLO is a business with a strong asset base comprised of thousands of base transceiver stations, kilometres of fiber backhaul, dedicated licensed frequencies and proprietary software; it also benefits from increasing cashflows underpinned by a stable and growing subscriber base.”
Partners Group has invested $2.4bn in digital infrastructure assets on behalf of its clients since it was founded in 1996. The firm currently manages about $119bn.
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