Eurofiber, a dark fiber owner in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Germany, which is backed by Antin Infrastructure and PGGM Investment Management, announced its key 2021 financial figures, including revenue and capital expenditures, as well as updates on its acquisitions and joint ventures such as NGN, Vattenfall Eurofiber, and Unifiber.
Financial Performance in Full-Year 2021 – Eurofiber
For full-year 2021, Eurofiber reported total revenue of €217.4m, a 15.1% increase year-over-year, and EBITDA of €110.3m, an 11.9% rise year-over-year. Therefore, the company’s EBITDA margin was 50.7% in full-year 2021.
Additionally, in 2021, Eurofiber made fiber-optic network capital expenditures of €136m, up 20% year-over-year. Of the company’s total capital expenditures, 85% (~€116m) were directly related to orders from new and existing customers.
On average, Eurofiber is expanding its fiber-optic network by 31 miles (50 kilometers) per week, equivalent to 1.6k miles (2.6k kilometers) per year.
In 2022, Eurofiber intends to grow its business and revenue base in Western Europe, both organically and inorganically.
Acquisitions, Joint Ventures, Corporate Developments
In 2021, Eurofiber advanced on a number of acquisitions (Lumos, Netiwan), joint ventures (NGN, Vattenfall Eurofiber, Unifiber), and corporate developments (Eurofiber Cloud Infra).
Lumos and Netiwan
Eurofiber closed its acquisitions of Lumos and Netiwan, strengthening its business and network in France:
- Lumos: 43.5 miles (70 kilometers) of fiber-optic network in the Nantes area of France, with points-of-presence (PoPs) in both Nantes and Paris
- Netiwan: present in Béziers, Montpellier, and Nîmes, France where it operates its own data center. Additionally, Netiwan combined with Eurofiber’s FullSave to offer services along the Bordeaux-Toulouse-Montpellier-Marseille corridor
More broadly, Eurofiber plans to expand its network footprint to at least 25 cities in France by 2025.
Next Generation Fiber Network (NGN)
Eurofiber entered into a partnership to act as joint shareholder of Next Generation Fiber Network (NGN), one of Germany’s largest owners of dark fiber. Specifically, the partnership enables Eurofiber to expand and sell NGN’s fiber network capacity in Germany, which spans 11.8k miles (19.0k kilometers), with enhanced product offerings. Notably, NGN’s fiber network covers a substantial portion of Germany, including routes along major German highways.
Vattenfall Eurofiber
Since 2020, Eurofiber has had a joint venture with Vattenfall Wärme, known as Vattenfall Eurofiber, to connect more than 500k households and businesses in Berlin, Germany with fiber, by the end of 2026. In September 2021, Vattenfall Eurofiber began the roll-out of fiber-optic connections for tenants of real estate company berlinovo in the city of Wasserstadt Spandau.
Additionally, in April 2022, Vattenfall Eurofiber and 1&1 signed a long-term cooperation agreement to make 1&1 broadband products and services available via Vattenfall Eurofiber’s fiber-optic network in Berlin. In turn, this will improve the utilization of Vattenfall Eurofiber’s network.
Unifiber
Eurofiber and Proximus, a wireless carrier and fixed broadband provider in Belgium, formed a joint venture, known as Unifiber, which aims to deploy a fiber-optic network in Wallonia, a region of southern Belgium. Unifiber is 50.01%-owned by Eurofiber and 49.99%-owned by Proximus.
Unifiber targets providing high-speed broadband access to at least 500k households and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by 2028. Specifically, the company’s fiber deployment pacing is as follows:
- Between 2022 and 2023: several tens of thousands of households will be covered by the Unifiber network
- 2024 Onwards: almost 100k households will be added each year to the Unifiber network
Over the next 10 years, the Unifiber joint venture has a budget of more than €800m to construct its fiber network.
Eurofiber Cloud Infra
In September 2021, Eurofiber created a new business unit, known as Eurofiber Cloud Infra, which combines its subsidiaries Dataplace and DCspine under one umbrella. Subsequently, in April 2022, Eurofiber incorporated MatrixMind into the new Eurofiber Cloud Infra business unit. Following integration of these operations, Eurofiber Cloud Infra offers the following services:
- Dataplace: colocation services in 6 carrier-neutral data centers in the Netherlands
- DCspine: software-defined interconnection service, connecting more than 80 data centers in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany
- IaaS: infrastructure as a service offering
- MatrixMind: hybrid cloud business, known as CloudHub
Eurofiber – Antin Infrastructure and PGGM
Eurofiber’s network spans over 37.3k fiber route miles (60.1k fiber route kilometers) in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Germany, connecting over 12.0k locations. In terms of data center connectivity, the company’s fiber network directly connects to 215+ different facilities in Europe. Furthermore, Eurofiber, through Dataplace, FullSave, and Eura DC, owns and operates 11 data centers in the Netherlands, Belgium, and France.
Ownership
Antin Infrastructure Partners IV re-invested in Eurofiber in November 2020, acquiring the business from Antin Infrastructure Partners II. Additionally, the PGGM Infrastructure Fund, part of PGGM Investment Management, is a shareholder of Eurofiber.
