Update on Speed Fibre Acquisition of BTCIL

Cordiant Digital Infrastructure Ltd

15 April 2025

 

15 April 2025

LEI:213800T8RBBWZQ7FTF84

Cordiant Digital Infrastructure Limited

Update on Speed Fibre Acquisition of BTCIL

Cordiant Digital Infrastructure Limited (the "Company"), the operationally focused investor specialising in digital infrastructure, managed by Cordiant Capital Inc (the "Investment Manager"), is pleased to announce that the acquisition by its wholly owned Irish fibre platform, Speed Fibre Group, of BT Communications Ireland Ltd ("BTCIL"), previously announced on 5 February 2025 (the "Transaction"), has been cleared by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission in Ireland.

The remaining conditions to closing relate to approval under Ireland's foreign direct investment legislation as well as the completion of the transfer to BT of the retained businesses from BTCIL which are outside of the Transaction perimeter.

Pending the aforementioned conditions, the Transaction is expected to close later in 2025.

For further information, please visit www.cordiantdigitaltrust.com or contact:

Cordiant Capital Inc. Investment Manager Stephen Foss, Managing Director	[phone]
Aztec Company Secretary and Administrator Chris Copperwaite / Laura Dunning	[phone]
Celicourt PR Adviser Philip Dennis / Ali AlQahtani / Charles Denley-Myerson	[phone]

About the Company

Cordiant Digital Infrastructure Limited primarily invests in the core infrastructure of the digital economy: data centres; fibre-optic networks; telecommunications and broadcast towers - in Europe and North America. Further details about the Company can be found on its website at www.cordiantdigitaltrust.com.

The Company is a sector-focused specialist owner and operator of Digital Infrastructure, listed on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker CORD. In total, the Company has successfully raised £795 million in equity, along with a €375 million debt package comprising a €200 million Eurobond and €175 million of committed capex and revolving facilities, deploying capital into six acquisitions: CRA, Hudson Interxchange, Emitel, Speed Fibre, Belgian Tower Company and Datacenter United, which together offer stable, often index-linked income, and the opportunity for growth, in line with the Company's Buy, Build & Grow model.

About the Investment Manager

Cordiant Capital Inc is a specialist global infrastructure and real assets manager with a sector-led approach to providing growth capital solutions to promising mid-sized companies in Europe, North America and selected global markets. Since the firm's relaunch in 2016, Cordiant, a partner-owned and partner-run firm, has developed a track record of exceeding mandated investment targets for its clients.

Cordiant focuses on the next generation of infrastructure and real assets: sectors (digital infrastructure, energy transition infrastructure and the agriculture value chain) characterised by growth tailwinds and technological dynamism. It also applies a strong sustainability and ESG overlay to its investment activities.

With a mix of managed funds offering both value-add and core strategies in equity and direct lending, Cordiant's sector investment teams (combining experienced industry executives with traditional private capital investors) work with investee companies to develop innovative, tailored financing solutions backed by a comprehensive understanding of the sector and demonstrated operating capabilities. In this way, Cordiant aims to provide value to investors seeking to complement existing infrastructure equity and infrastructure debt allocations.

About Speed Fibre Group

Speed Fibre is an open access fibre infrastructure provider in the Republic of Ireland and includes the businesses of Enet and Magnet Plus. Further details about Speed Fibre can be found on its website at www.speedfibregroup.ie.

Enet is the manager of Ireland's 88 metropolitan area networks (MANs) - fibre rings that connect 94 large regional towns to high-speed international networks.  Aside from managing the MANs, under a government concession, Enet has a managed services contract for Irish Rail's long-distance fibre backhaul network. It also owns key infrastructure such as the T5 ring which circles the M50 and connects many of the country's biggest data centres. In total, Enet manages or owns 5,600km of fibre. The concession to run the MANs lasts until March 2030.

Magnet Plus operates an independent connectivity network. It provides connectivity for some of the world's biggest technology companies, as well as telecommunications, data connectivity, and security services to both commercial and residential markets in Ireland, throughout Europe, the US and beyond.

About BTCIL

BT Communications Ireland Limited (BTCIL) is one of the main alternative fixed line communications providers in Ireland. The acquired business currently provides communications solutions to domestic and wholesale telecommunications operators, government departments and enterprise customers delivering networking, voice, data, security and managed services. BTCIL's B2B business has historically been focused on serving global multinational companies. This element of its business will be retained by BT going forward and continue to operate in Ireland. Data Centre and multi-national enterprise customer businesses, which were historically operated under BTCIL, are excluded from the Transaction perimeter.

 

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