F2i Sgr has reached an agreement with Serenissima Partecipazioni, a subsidiary of the Abertis Group, for the purchase of 94,12% of the share capital of Infracom Italia at a price of 57,8 million. F2i and Marguerite will complete the transaction through a joint corporate vehicle owned 80% by the Second F2i Fund and 20% by the Marguerite Fund.
After the sale of Metroweb to Open Fiber, the acquisition of Infracom marks the return of F2i to the telecommunications sector. The transaction also marks Marguerite's first investment in Italy and her second in ICT, following the investment in the Rosace project (in the Grand Est region, France) in 2016.
F2i and Marguerite believe that Infracom is an important platform on which to aggregate other operators active in the fragmented market of telecommunications services aimed at business customers. The goal is to create a national player with strong managerial skills, financial solidity and adequate levels of efficiency and quality of service, operating in the market of value-added cloud and ICT services for the business customer market.
Infracom, which is based in Verona, closed 2016 with a turnover of 103 million, an industrial margin (ebitda) of 22 million and a net financial position of around 70 million. Infracom's important infrastructural endowment includes an extensive fiber optic network laid along motorway and suburban areas (about 9.000 km) and in urban areas (35 Italian cities) and three data centers located in Milan (in the Business Park in via Caldera ), Assago and Verona.
At the same time as the transaction, F2i and Marguerite negotiated a 65 million euro credit facility with a group of banks (Unicredit, IntesaSanpaolo, Ubi and Ing) aimed at refinancing Infracom's debt. A recapitalization of the company is also planned in order to finance its growth.
