Enel Buys Into Ufinet

The European power and telecoms utility Enel has bought itself a stake in some Latin American metro fiber. They have spent €150M for a 21% stake in Ufinet plus an option. They also acquired an option to buy the rest in a couple years for as much as €2.1B. 

Ufinet operates metro and regional fiberr networks across most of the major markets of Central America with some assets in Europe as well, with 17,000km of network in its portfolio and generated €159M in revenue last year. The company was bought by the European private equity group Cinven a few years ago and made a deal or two of its own since.

This is the second move Cinven has made this year to monetize its ownership of Ufinet. In May the company agreed to sell Ufinet Spain to Antin Infrastructure Partners, at which time I wondered if the company’s Latin American assets might also be on the menu. Apparently they were, although for now just in part.

Enel already has utility assets in Latin America, so buying some fiber should complement that presence. Enel is also behind the Italian wholesale fiber builder Open Fiber. 

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Categories: Mergers and Acquisitions · Metro fiber