Community Fibre to invest up to £400 million in accelerated expansion of full-fibre broadband to one million households and businesses across London
- Warburg Pincus and DTCP acquire controlling stake in Community Fibre, London's fastest 100% full-fibre broadband provider
- New shareholders will fund the Company's roll-out of full-fibre broadband to one million London households and businesses by 2023
- Olaf Swantee, former CEO of EE, joins Community Fibre as Executive Chairman
LONDON, July 29, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Funds advised by Warburg Pincus LLC, a leading global private equity firm focused on growth investing, and DTCP, an investment management group specialized in technology growth equity and digital infrastructure, have reached an agreement to acquire a majority stake in Community Fibre Limited, London's fastest and most competitively priced 100% full-fibre broadband provider, alongside its existing investors Amber Infrastructure and RPMI Railpen. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Community Fibre is future-proofing London communities by delivering 1 Gbps of full-fibre broadband to households and up to 10 Gbps of full-fibre broadband to businesses, at the most competitive prices on the market. Their mission is to empower communities through offering more reliable and affordable connections, and to make London a Gigafast city, a key UK government target. Today, Community Fibre announces ambitions to fibre-enable one million households by 2023, funded by the new shareholders.
Unlike most other providers, they launch and operate their own dedicated 100% full-fibre network. Running fibre optic cable all the way into homes and business premises helps deliver maximum speed, reliability, and efficiency, with zero use of legacy copper.
The market opportunity for Community Fibre is significant. Demand for high speed, high quality internet to the home (FTTH) and to businesses (FTTB) is growing exponentially, yet a large proportion of the UK's capital is offered some of the poorest and slowest broadband services in Europe.
Graeme Oxby, CEO of Community Fibre, said: "This is an exciting deal for Community Fibre. Having Warburg Pincus and DTCP on board is a tremendous endorsement for our business. In a post COVID-19 world, digital connectivity will be more crucial than ever. With further new investment, we can work faster than ever to deliver 100% full-fibre broadband to social housing residents and to local communities and their businesses across London."
On completion of the transaction, expected within a few weeks, Olaf Swantee will join Community Fibre as Executive Chairman. Olaf was formerly CEO of Sunrise Communications, the second largest telecoms provider in Switzerland and CEO of EE.
Olaf Swantee, Incoming Executive Chairman at Community Fibre, said: "I am excited to be joining a business in a sector that I am passionate about, where there is a clear vision and purpose. Working alongside blue chip investors such as Warburg Pincus, DTCP, Amber Infrastructure, and RPMI Railpen, will also open up new and exciting growth opportunities."
Warburg Pincus has invested $4 billion behind a telecommunications and technology infrastructure investment thesis for more than 20 years. Recent examples include inexio in Germany, Converge ICT in the Philippines, INEA in Poland, America.Net in Brazil, Airtel in Africa, and Inmarsat in the UK.
Rene Obermann, Co-Head of Europe and Managing Director of Warburg Pincus Deutschland GmbH, said: "Community Fibre aims to close the digital divide and promote social inclusion. Affordable high speed internet for London's social housing, and free Gigafast connection to community centres and libraries will create limitless opportunities in education, recruitment, and training, with one click of a button."
DTCP has been investing at the intersection of technology and digital infrastructure for years, including in very successful companies like edge cloud company, Fastly, and tower infrastructure company, Swiss Towers. Vicente Vento, Co-Founder and CEO at DTCP, said: "Now, more than ever, we believe in a world where ubiquitous and affordable high speed connectivity helps society thrive. We are looking forward to partnering with Community Fibre, together with Warburg Pincus, to support them on their mission to power communities with ultra-fast fibre connectivity across London."
Greenhill advised Warburg Pincus and DTCP. Jefferies International Limited advised Community Fibre and its shareholders.
Julie Foster
Warburg Pincus International LLC
Almack House, 28 King Street
London, SW1Y 6QW
M: +44 7471 992907
Julie.Foster@warburgpincus.com
www.warburgpincus.com
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