euNetworks Group Holdings, a Western European bandwidth infrastructure company, announced that it has closed on a €2.1 billion equity recapitalization. Leading investors in the recap included a Stonepeak managed vehicle anchored by Mercer and Aware Super, and direct investments from the Investment Management Corporation of Ontario (IMCO) and APG Asset Management.
These equity commitments follow the company’s recent debt refinancing (announced in June) and will further euNetworks’ momentum as it continues to scale and execute against its strategic priorities.
What euNetworks does: euNetworks builds and invests in city and long-haul fiber networks to connect key European data centers and data hubs. And the company owns and operates deep fiber networks in 18 cities and a highly differentiated long-haul network that spans 45,000 route kilometers across 17 countries. euNetworks leads the data center connectivity market in Europe, directly connecting more than 542 data centers today, and is well positioned to continue advancing its leadership position in the rapidly evolving connectivity and bandwidth infrastructure space as data center needs continue to grow.
J.P. Morgan acted as the sole financial advisor to euNetworks. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Campbell Lutyens acted respectively as legal counsel and financial advisor to Stonepeak. And UBS and Baker McKenzie acted respectively as financial and legal advisors to APG. Gowling WLG acted as legal counsel to IMCO.
KEY QUOTES:
“Our successful debt refinancing and equity recapitalisation underscores the robust value proposition and fundamental infrastructure delivered by euNetworks. We’ve had a fantastic partnership with Stonepeak and IMCO since 2018 along with our other investors, and we extend our gratitude to them for their unwavering support. The combination of Stonepeak, IMCO, APG, Mercer and Aware Super coming together as the new euNetworks represents a very strong opportunity for our customers, our people, our partners and the communities in which we operate. We’re very proud of what we’ve achieved and are excited for the future, continuing to construct and deliver Europe’s future critical infrastructure with our customers and our long-term committed investors.”
- Kevin Dean, Interim Chief Executive of euNetworks
“Since 2018, we have partnered with an industry-leading platform in euNetworks, which is leading the way in sustainably developing the next generation of essential bandwidth infrastructure in Europe. We’d like to thank the entire management team for their significant contributions during this period – particularly Brady Rafuse and Paula Cogan, who have led the business through many phases of its evolution. We look forward to stewarding the next chapter of euNetworks’ growth alongside our new partners.”
- Cyrus Gentry, Managing Director at Stonepeak
“We are impressed by euNetworks’ focus on sustainable growth and providing high quality connectivity solutions to its customers on a pan-European level. We are thrilled to be entering into this partnership, on behalf of our pension fund client ABP and Asset Owner Partners, and we are eager to work closely with the euNetworks team as they continue to develop and further their strategic vision.”
- Arjan Reinders, Head of Infrastructure Europe at APG
“As an investor in euNetworks since 2018, we take great pride in contributing to its growth and working with its high calibre management team to help the company achieve a market leading position in Europe. Alongside our co-shareholders, we look forward to continuing our partnership with euNetworks as they focus on building the next generation of bandwidth network in Europe, connecting more data centres and key sites with fibre, and leading the industry in sustainability practices.”
- Matthew Mendes, Managing Director, Head of Infrastructure, IMCO
“euNetworks’ market-leading characteristics have contributed to its historical growth and we’re excited to partner with our co-shareholders to empower the euNetworks team to capture the strong industry tailwinds arising out of the acceleration in AI innovation and adoption. This is also a strong opportunity for us to further diversify our global digital infrastructure holdings into Europe.”
- Mark Hector, Head of Infrastructure at Aware Super
