DIF Capital Partners in talks for TDF fibreco

DIF Capital Partners in talks for TDF fibreco

France

DIF Capital Partners has entered into exclusive negotiations with TDF and La Banque des Territoires to acquire the fibre business of Brookfield backed TDF Group.

TDF Fibre is a wholesale French fibre business owned by TDF (79.5%) and Banque des Territoires (20.5%).

DIF says its plans to invest in the fibreco involves the acquisition of the TDF Fibre, as well as Lumière Fibre, a wholly owned subsidiary of TDF that houses its engineering, maintenance, fibre roll-out and construction services business units.

Reports circulated in July last year that TDF were exploring a sale of its fibre business, and insiders at the time said it could be valued at over a €1billion.

TDF were reported to be seeking between €1.3 billion to €1.6 billion for the business.

DIF Capital Partners is an infrastructure fund with €17 billion of assets under management. It will make the acquisition via its DIF Infrastructure VII Fund, which closed fundraising in March at €4.4 billion.

DIF VII targets infrastructure investments, often concession-based or with long-term offtake agreements offering stable and predictable cash flows as well as attractive risk-adjusted returns.

Sectors covered include transportation, (renewable) energy, digital infrastructure and utilities.

As part of its fibre business, TDF run four public-initiative networks under long-tern concession agreements from the French government.

Public-initiative networks are a part of the French government’s National Broadband Scheme, and essentially serve to fund fibre expansion to rural and semi-rural areas.

In its 2023 annual results report, TDF revealed that its fibre business’ revenue increased by 37.6% between 2022 and 2023, from €51.8 million to €71.3 million.

It’s EBITDAaL, which removes lease costs from EBITDA, increased by 73.8% in the same period to €49.9 million from €28.7 million. In 2021 EBITDAaL was €21.6 million.

DIF said the transaction could be completed by the end of 2024.

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