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20 April 2020  |  Toronto

DIF Capital Partners invests in Canadian fiber optic networks build out

DIF Capital Partners, through its DIF Core Infrastructure Fund II (“DIF CIF II”), is pleased to announce that it has completed a majority investment into Valley Fiber Ltd (“Valley Fiber”) to build fiber-to-the-home (“FttH”) and fiber-to-the-business (“FttB”) networks in Manitoba, Canada.

Based in Winkler, Manitoba, Valley Fiber is a telecommunications infrastructure company that specializes in the development, construction and operations of fiber and fixed-wireless infrastructure for residential and commercial use. Valley Fiber has received support from municipal and federal levels of government in Canada. DIF Capital Partners’ investment will allow Valley Fiber to connect more than 15,000 homes and businesses to fiber over the next two years. The transaction contemplates a conservative capital structure which provides additional financial resiliency in the current environment.

Valley Fiber was incorporated in 2016 and has successfully built a presence in Southern Manitoba, constructing high quality telecommunications infrastructure to service the historically underserved communities. Valley Fiber currently operates in more than 20 municipalities in Manitoba. The transaction also includes the acquisition of 40 operating fixed-wireless towers.

“The Valley Fiber team is extremely excited to have found a long-term partner that shares the same values and vision of how to bring the best-in-class fiber and telecommunication infrastructure to the region. With the support from the Canadian government and our financial partner DIF Capital Partners, we look forward to usher in a new generation of economic development and diversity to Southern Manitoba” comments Hank Wall, CEO of Valley Fiber.

The transaction is the first investment for DIF CIF II and underlines the key strategic focus to invest in digital infrastructure. “We are pleased with our long-term investment into the Valley Fiber platform for the roll out of fiber in rural Canada. This is an excellent opportunity for DIF CIF II to invest in a high growth company with a strong management team and to further expand our presence into the fast-growing telecom infrastructure sector” comments Willem Jansonius, Head of DIF CIF.

DIF Capital Partners was advised by Agentis Capital (financial) and Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg (legal).

About DIF Capital Partners

DIF Capital Partners is a leading global independent infrastructure fund manager, with €6.7 billion of assets under management across nine closed-end infrastructure funds and several co-investment vehicles. DIF Capital Partners invests in greenfield and brownfield infrastructure assets located primarily in Europe, the Americas and Australasia through two complementary strategies:

  • DIF CIF funds target equity investments in small to mid-sized infrastructure assets in the telecom, energy and transportation sectors.
  • DIF Infrastructure funds target equity investments in public-private partnerships (PPP/PFI/P3), concessions, utilities and renewable energy projects with long-term contracted or regulated income streams.

DIF has a team of over 140 professionals, based in nine offices located in Amsterdam (Schiphol), Frankfurt, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Paris, Santiago, Sydney and Toronto. Please visit www.dif.eu for further information.

Contact:
Allard Ruijs, Partner
Email: a.ruijs@dif.eu

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27 November 2019  |  

DIF Capital Partners and Cinia to build out fiber optic networks in Finland

DIF Capital Partners (“DIF”), through its DIF Core Infrastructure Fund I (“DIF CIF”) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a joint venture with Cinia Oy (”Cinia”) to build fiber-to-the-home (“FttH”) networks in Finland.

The joint venture (“Adola”) plans to provide over 100,000 FttH connections to public, private and commercial customers with a focus on Finland’s underserved areas and operates under the consumer brand Täyskuitu (please refer to www.tayskuitu.fi for more information). FttH networks are a key element to enable digital development in business and society, and keep up pace with global digitalization developments. The joint venture with Cinia underlines DIF CIF’s key strategic focus to invest in digital infrastructure. The first project is expected to become operational in the first half of 2020.

DIF’s share in Adola amounts to 80.1%. The remaining 19.9% is held by Cinia, a public Finnish telecom infrastructure provider that owns and operates roughly 15,000 km of fiber optic backbone network in Northern Europe, including a high capacity submarine fiber cable to Germany.

“We are pleased to have established a long term co-operation with Cinia for the roll out of fiber in Finland. This is an excellent opportunity for DIF CIF to invest in high quality projects with a strong local partner and to further expand into the fast growing telecom infrastructure sector” comments Willem Jansonius, Head of DIF CIF.

About DIF Capital Partners

DIF is an independent infrastructure fund manager, with €6.0 billion of assets under management across eight closed-end infrastructure funds and several co-investment vehicles. DIF invests in greenfield and brownfield infrastructure assets located primarily in Europe, the Americas and Australasia through two complementary strategies:

  • DIF Infrastructure funds target equity investments in public-private partnerships (PPP/PFI/P3), concessions, utilities and renewable energy projects with long-term contracted or regulated income streams.
  • DIF CIF funds target equity investments in small to mid-sized infrastructure assets in the energy, transportation and telecom sectors with mid-term contracted income streams.

DIF has a team of over 135 professionals, based in nine offices located in Amsterdam (Schiphol), Frankfurt, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Paris, Santiago, Sydney and Toronto. Please visit www.dif.eu for further information.

Contact:
Allard Ruijs, Partner
Email: a.ruijs@dif.eu

About Cinia

Cinia provides secure high-availability data network and software solutions. Our operations are based on our solid expertise in modern software development, data network technologies and critical operating environments. Our fiber optic network of roughly 15,000 kilometers, including the C-Lion1 submarine cable, enables the fastest data communications solutions to Central Europe and to markets in Asia and Eastern Europe. By combining our services with services of our partners, we can provide reliable and comprehensive solutions that help our customers write their own digital success stories. More information about Cinia: www.cinia.fi/en

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19 December 2017  |  Paris

DIF acquires 55% stake in French fiber project from Infravia

DIF Core Infrastructure Fund I (“DIF CIF I”) and Infravia are pleased to announce that they have completed the sale of Infravia’s 55% stake in the French fiber company ADTIM.

ADTIM operates a wholesale telecom network in the Ardèche and Drôme departments under a 25-year concession awarded in 2008, which is fully operational since 2011. In December 2016, ADTIM, together with its partners Axione, Bouygues E&S and Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, were awarded the Fiber to the Home (FttH) concession in the region. This second project plans to realize 310,000 FttH connections in association with the public local authority Syndicat mixte ADN as part of France’s 2012 Ultra-Fast Broadband Plan, the nationwide plan to implement ultra-fast internet connections across the country by 2022.

Infravia and DIF CIF I had reached an agreement on the transaction in June 2017.

InfraVia has been advised in the process by the following parties: Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP (Legal), Lazard (M&A) and H3P (Financial).

About DIF

DIF is an independent and specialist fund management company, managing funds of approximately €4.6 billion across seven closed-end investment funds and several co-investment vehicles. DIF invests in the global infrastructure market through two differentiated and complementary strategies.

DIF CIF I targets small to mid sized infrastructure assets in the telecom infrastructure, rail, energy and utility sectors that generate stable and predictable cash flows that are contracted over the mid term with highly rated entities. The fund targets both greenfield and operational projects in Europe, North America and Australasia. The fund recently reached its final close at EUR 450m. DIF’s other funds target PPP / PFI / P3, regulated infrastructure assets and renewable energy projects in Europe, North America and Australasia.

DIF has offices in Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London, Paris, Luxembourg, Madrid, Toronto and Sydney.

For more information, please contact:

Willem Jansonius, Partner
E-mail: w.jansonius@dif.eu

Allard Ruijs, Partner
E-mail: a.ruijs@dif.eu

About Infravia Capital Partners

InfraVia Capital Partners is an investment manager dedicated to the infrastructure sector. InfraVia manages EUR 1.9bn across three infrastructures funds, positioned as long-term investors and dedicated to energy and infrastructure in Europe.

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