25 Nov 2022
Infrastructure fund manager DIF Capital Partners invests in a newly-created joint venture, focused on developing and building a state-of-the-art digital infrastructure for the City of Essen in Germany. The joint venture is a new cooperation model developed by metrofibre, accelerating the fibre roll-out in Germany’s urban areas through partnerships between municipalities, private investors and project development experts. With ruhrfibre, the first project with a volume of approx. EUR 180m is now being launched. Project partners are the City of Essen, DIF Capital Partners and digital infrastructure specialist metrofibre.
Through ruhrfibre, approx. 150,000 households, as well as businesses, hospitals and public institutions, will get access to Essen’s new high-speed network in the coming three years. “We will be handling all aspects of project coordination and management, from investor acquisition over last mile cabling to communications with Internet service providers,” explains Christopher Rautenberg, co-founder and Managing Director of metrofibre.
Currently, Germany ranks 34th out of 38 OECD countries in terms of fibre penetration. Essen is a prime example that undersupply in Germany does not only occur in rural, but also in urban areas, with currently only 5% of households having fibre connections available, offering vast potential for the metrofibre model in cities with populations of 100,000+.
The completion of the acquisition is subject to antitrust approval.
Alongside CASE Corporate Finance, Metrofibre were assisted by Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek as legal adviser.
Highlights
- CASE Corporate Finance expertise in digital infrastructure
- CASE Corporate Finance track record in growth financings
- CASE Corporate Finance ability to lead complex transactions with various stakeholders
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