Liberty Global Ventures, the investment arm of the media giant, has teamed with private equity firm InfraVia Capital Partners in a joint venture aimed at assessing the prospects for fibre-to-the-home networks in Germany.
The 50:50 J/V, which is subject to regulatory approval, will see the two companies use their extensive expertise in infrastructure investment and development. Having operated Unitymedia for a decade, Liberty Global has extensive experience of the German market , including working closely with municipalities and regional authorities in Germany as its Unitymedia subsidiary expanded its network in the country. This reached 13 million homes passed and 7.2 million customers by the time of its sale to Vodafone in 2019.
The J/V will take a modular approach, with the first phase targeting a small number of municipalities in Germany. If specifically defined success criteria are met during the first phase, it will open up further investment opportunities for the joint venture.
“Liberty Networks Germany offers an exciting opportunity to leverage our expertise in deploying critical broadband infrastructure in a market we know very well,” explained Liberty Global Connectivity Investments managing director Robert Dunn. “We’re also excited by the attractive returns offered by greenfield fibre network deployment in a country where millions of homes don’t yet have access to fast and reliable broadband. We look forward to working in partnership with InfraVia as we take a controlled approach to the opportunity as we move forward.”
InfraVia Capital partner Bruno Candès added: “We are excited to be working with Liberty Global to explore this opportunity in Germany, seizing on the ever-increasing data usage and the acceleration of work from home patterns. We look forward to leveraging the investment capacity of our fifth infrastructure fund and our leading expertise in digital infrastructure investments during this project.”
The J/V will take a modular approach, with the first phase targeting a small number of municipalities in Germany. If specifically defined success criteria are met during the first phase, it will open up further investment opportunities for the joint venture.
“Liberty Networks Germany offers an exciting opportunity to leverage our expertise in deploying critical broadband infrastructure in a market we know very well,” explained Liberty Global Connectivity Investments managing director Robert Dunn. “We’re also excited by the attractive returns offered by greenfield fibre network deployment in a country where millions of homes don’t yet have access to fast and reliable broadband. We look forward to working in partnership with InfraVia as we take a controlled approach to the opportunity as we move forward.”
InfraVia Capital partner Bruno Candès added: “We are excited to be working with Liberty Global to explore this opportunity in Germany, seizing on the ever-increasing data usage and the acceleration of work from home patterns. We look forward to leveraging the investment capacity of our fifth infrastructure fund and our leading expertise in digital infrastructure investments during this project.”
