CapMan Infra invests in the acceleration of fibre network deployment across Finland

CapMan Infra invests in the acceleration of fibre network deployment across Finland

(PRESS RELEASE) HELSINKI, 31-Oct-2019 — /EuropaWire/ — CapMan Infra to establish a joint venture with Telia Company that will invest into and deploy fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) infrastructure in Finland. CapMan Infra will take a majority investment in the joint venture that will acquire Telia Finland’s existing Avoin Kuitu fibre assets and will be one of the largest FTTH network owners and operators in Finland.

Promoting the construction of more extensive optical fibre networks to enable better digital infrastructure and fast broadband access across Finland is one of the key goals in the Finnish Government Programme 2019. Substantial investments and a reliable operator specialising in the fibre market is required to achieve this goal. CapMan Infra and Telia take on the challenge to accelerate the roll-out of fibre infrastructure by establishing a joint venture. The joint venture will accelerate the pace of investments to make fibre available across Finland with the take over Telia Finland’s Avoin Kuitu existing FTTH business. Avoin Kuitu currently operates fibre assets primarily in Finnish growth centres and surrounding areas, serving around 12 municipalities.

Harri Halonen, Partner at CapMan Infra said: “Reliable and fast network connections are a core foundation for modern society. They improve quality of life by enabling living and working across the country. The efficient implementation of large investment projects is at the core of our team’s expertise, and the new ownership model with Telia allows us to make long-term commitments to roll-out fibre networks across Finland. We are delighted to work with a market-leading operator to establish a stand-alone open access fibre provider.”

Global trends and consumption patterns like Video-on-demand, online gaming and the increasing number of connected devices that require fast and reliable network connections are driving the need for fast and reliable data connections. Given the exponential increase in the amount of data being transferred, 4G or even 5G networks are unable to guarantee fast and reliable data connections in the long-term.

Stein-Erik Vellan, Senior Vice President, Head of Telia Finland, added: “I’m really happy that we have come to this agreement with CapMan Infra which fits very well with Telia Company’s strategy of having superior network connectivity while adding to our commercial success through convergence and great customer experience. The network roll-out will play an important role for Finland to maintain its position at the very forefront of digitalization. This new type of structure with a partnership ties well with our ambition of disciplined allocation where we, case by case and market by market, seek a good balance between the risk and reward and potential future technology shifts as well as short versus long-term thinking.”

The transaction is expected to close in the beginning of 2020 with completion conditional on customary approvals from competition authorities.

CapMan Infra’s investment focus is core and core+ infrastructure assets in the energy, transportation and telecom sectors in the Nordics. CapMan Infra held the first close on its midcap Nordic infrastructure fund in October 2018, and the fund invested in the Norwegian ferry operator Norled earlier this year. The CapMan Infra team comprises 7 investment professionals and operates from Helsinki and Stockholm with a total of 70 years of sector experience. The team has also completed investments on a mandate basis in Nordic infrastructure opportunities.

Contact:
Harri Halonen, Partner, CapMan Infra, tel. +46 768 71 0062

SOURCE: CapMan