Basalt Infrastructure Partners, an infrastructure private equity firm, through its Basalt Infrastructure Partners III fund, today announced that it has agreed to acquire goetel GmbH and German Network Construction GmbH (goetel Group), a fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) provider in rural Germany from Adiuva Capital, a German private equity firm. Notably, the Basalt Infrastructure Partners III fund has $2.75bn in equity capital commitments.
Finally, the transaction is expected to close during Q3 2021.
goetel Group – Overview
goetel Group is a fiber infrastructure provider based in Göttingen, a city in Lower Saxony, central Germany. Specifically, the company owns and operates fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) and fiber-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) networks in rural Germany.
Overall, goetel Group serves the rural areas of the German regions of Hesse, Lower Saxony, and North Rhine-Westphalia. The company has 14.0k+ customers in a service area of 200k+ households.
Strategy
With capital from Basalt Infrastructure Partners III, goetel Group will continue rolling-out fiber broadband to existing customers and underserved homes.
Notably, goetel Group’s subsidiary, German Network Construction GmbH, carries out the construction of fiber infrastructure for the company.
Transaction Advisors – Basalt Infrastructure Partners
Basalt Infrastructure Partners III’s financial advisor for the goetel acquisition was ING. Additionally, Basalt Infrastructure Partners III’s legal advisor was White & Case.
Basalt Infrastructure Partners – Overview
Basalt Infrastructure Partners focuses on mid-market investments in the infrastructure sectors of utilities, power, transport, and digital, in North America and Europe.
German Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) Experience
In July 2019, Basalt Infrastructure Partners II, acquired bn:t (Blatzheim Networks Telecom) and SOCO. Specifically, these acquisitions were of two fiber network owners and operators in the North Rhine-Westphalia region of Germany. Presently, Basalt Infrastructure Partners refers to these portfolio companies as Connect Fibre.
Digital Infrastructure – Portfolio Companies
Beyond fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) in Germany, Basalt has made investments in the following companies within the digital infrastructure sector:
- Digital Infrastructure Ltd: owns and provides wholesale fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) services for medium-sized towns in the UK
- FullFibre: owns and operates fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) networks serving small and medium-sized towns primarily in the southwest and west of England
- Manx Telecom: provides fixed line, broadband, mobile, and data center services to retail, business, and public sector customers. Overall, the company serves the Isle of Man
