Doughty Hanson today announces that Doughty Hanson & Co V has agreed to sell its entire stake in Eurofiber, the owner of the largest independent fiber optic network in the Netherlands, to funds managed by Antin Infrastructure Partners (“Antin”) for €875 million. The transaction is expected to close in late May / early June 2015.
Founded in 2000 and headquartered in Maarssen in the Netherlands, Eurofiber owns and operates a state of the art fiber network spanning over 18,000km and connecting over 10,000 unique locations. All telecom providers, system integrators and service providers can deliver their services to end users using Eurofiber’s infrastructure-only network.
Eurofiber was acquired by Doughty Hanson & Co V in May 2012 from Reggeborgh, a Dutch investment company, in a proprietary transaction. Reggeborgh continued to hold a significant minority stake in Eurofiber following the acquisition by Doughty Hanson and will also sell its entire stake in the transaction with Antin.
Under Doughty Hanson’s ownership, Eurofiber has consolidated its position as the largest independent operator in the Netherlands and increased its market share, particularly in the area of Dark Fiber. In 2013, the Company completed two add-on acquisitions in the Netherlands, expanding its network by over 1,000km.
The sale of Doughty Hanson & Co V’s stake in Eurofiber will yield a multiple of 2.5x for the Fund’s investors and an expected gross IRR of 35%. It represents the fifth successful exit from the Fund and means that 117% of invested capital has now been returned to investors, with three further assets remaining before the portfolio is fully realised.
Commenting on the transaction Pascal Keutgens, a Senior Principal at Doughty Hanson, said: “We have enjoyed working with Alex Goldblum and his excellent team at Eurofiber to deliver significant value for all our stakeholders and we wish them well in the future.”
Alex Goldblum, CEO of Eurofiber, added: “Working with Doughty Hanson has been instrumental in making Eurofiber what it is today. We’d like to thank the team for the invaluable support, advice and challenge that we have received over the past three years.”