HARGRAY COMMUNICATIONS acquired by CABLE ONE

Siparex Entrepreneurs has acquired a minority stake in Alcatraz IT, marking the first time the company has opened its capital to a private equity firm. The founder, Xavier Lafaure, remains the majority shareholder and continues to lead the company. The partnership is designed to support the operator’s ambitious growth trajectory in the competitive B2B telecom market. By leveraging Siparex’s network and financial backing, Alcatraz IT aims to expand its nationwide backbone and enhance its service offering in cybersecurity and unified communications. At the time of the investment, Alcatraz IT reported a turnover of €5.6 million for the 2020 fiscal year.

MasMovil has launched a tender offer to acquire 100% of Euskaltel for €11.17 per share in cash. This acquisition is part of MasMovil's growth strategy, which aims to expand its telecommunications services offer in Spain. The acquisition of Euskaltel will allow MasMovil to strengthen its position in the Spanish market and benefit from significant synergies. Euskaltel's shareholders have welcomed the offer, which represents a 27% premium to the 30-day weighted average price. The transaction is expected to be completed in the coming months, subject to the necessary regulatory approvals. This acquisition is an important step in MasMovil's strategy, which aims to become one of the leading telecommunications operators in Spain. The company has already made significant acquisitions in the past, including the acquisition of Nowo Communications SA in 2020.

A premier private equity consortium comprising Cinven, KKR, and Providence Equity Partners has successfully finalized the 99.3% public-to-private take-private acquisition of MASMOVIL. The investment thesis represents a classic large-scale infrastructure and telecom platform buyout, heavily focused on capturing localized market expansion and sector consolidation in Western Europe. By securing near-total equity control, the financial sponsors establish a powerful operational beachhead within the Iberian telecommunications landscape. The post-closing strategic rationale centers on providing institutional growth capital and deep sector expertise to back MASMOVIL’s management team. The upcoming corporate roadmap prioritizes accelerating capital-intensive infrastructure projects to improve regional network access, while aggressively rolling out innovative digital and quad-play services. This multi-billion dollar sponsor-led intervention is engineered to unlock substantial operational efficiencies, maximize multi-stakeholder value creation for customers and employees, and fortify the operator's competitive positioning against national incumbents.

Orange SA has announced a definitive agreement to acquire a 54% controlling equity stake in Telekom Romania Communications, executing a major cross-border corporate buyout within the Central and Eastern European digital infrastructure sector. The transaction was structured with the assistance of specialized financial, legal, and regulatory advisors, resulting in a net purchase price of €268 million paid by Orange, net of debt and cash components. The transaction remains subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, with finalization scheduled for the second half of 2021. The acquisition thesis is fundamentally rooted in capability-driven scale and market positioning within the regional telecommunications landscape. By integrating the target, Orange executes an immediate, large-scale expansion of its physical infrastructure and technical assets in Romania. The post-closing strategic rationale focuses on combining both platforms' operational capabilities to significantly accelerate Orange's long-term deployment plan.

Iliad SA has launched a friendly public tender offer to acquire 100% of the capital of Play, executing a major cross-border corporate buyout within the European telecommunications sector. The transaction is structured as an all-cash offer, which received unanimous approval from Play's board of directors and is scheduled for finalization by the end of the year. To secure execution, Iliad has obtained firm undertakings from Play’s two main reference shareholders to tender their combined equity stake. The transaction's financial engineering relies on Iliad’s existing cash reserves and senior credit lines arranged by a syndicate of commercial banks, which will increase the group's net debt leverage ratio. The investment thesis centers on scale-driven geographical diversification and market consolidation within the European digital infrastructure landscape. By fully absorbing Play—the leading mobile network operator in Poland with 15 million subscribers—Iliad reconfigures its corporate footprint, transitioning into the sixth-largest European mobile operator with a combined customer base of over 40 million subscribers. This corporate combination substantially diversifies Iliad's revenue mix and cash-flow profile, shifting its historical reliance away from the French domestic market to expand its international operations.

Vodafone Group Plc has completed the sale of its entire 100% stake in Vodafone Malta to Monaco Telecom SAM. The strategic rationale for the divestment is part of Vodafone's broader group strategy to simplify its portfolio and optimize its asset base to focus on larger regional markets and reduce debt. For Monaco Telecom, the acquisition represents a significant expansion of its Mediterranean footprint, adding a market leader with a strong spectrum portfolio and a high-quality customer base. The deal allows Monaco Telecom to apply its operational model to a new jurisdiction while initially operating under the Vodafone brand during a transitional period. This transaction underscores the ongoing consolidation in the European telecom sector, where smaller, agile operators like Monaco Telecom seek to acquire mature assets from larger global groups looking to reallocate capital.

Groupe Bollore sold its 100% stake in Wifirst to a consortium of investors (Amundi, Bpifrance, Socadif) and the management team. The deal is heavily leveraged, financed by a EUR100 million unitranche debt facility provided by Pemberton.

The acquisition of Iliad 7 by Cellnex forms part of a wider 2-billion-euro international divestment including 2,200 Italian telecom installations and Swiss infrastructure assets. This transaction represents a strategic balance sheet rebalancing for Iliad, currently facing retail market compression caused by pricing pressure from domestic rivals SFR and Bouygues Telecom. The immediate monetary intake allows the seller to accelerate corporate deleveraging while securing investment capital for upcoming nationwide fiber rollouts and next-generation 5G spectrum allocations. The operational structure implements a long-term sale-and-leaseback agreement, which maintains uninterrupted cellular coverage for Free while shifting property maintenance burdens to the buyer. Regulatory clearance from the French antitrust authority confirms that the market structure retains sufficient scale through alternative tower companies to prevent post-transaction pricing distortions.

Infrastructure fund manager Basalt Infrastructure Partners, acting through its newly incorporated acquisition vehicle Kelion Bidco Limited, has reached a definitive agreement to acquire the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Manx Telecom plc. Implemented by means of a Court-sanctioned Scheme of Arrangement under section 157 of the Isle of Man Companies Act 2006, the recommended cash acquisition has secured the unanimous backing of the target's board of directors. Instructed by independent financial advice from Oakley Advisory, the Manx Directors intend to unanimously recommend that shareholders vote in favor of the scheme resolutions, having already provided irrevocable undertakings to vote their own beneficial holdings—representing approximately 0.52 per cent of the issued share capital—in support of the transaction.

Celeste, a French telecom operator specializing in ultra-high-speed internet services for businesses, is opening up the majority of its capital to InfraVia. The company announced revenues of EUR20 million in 2018 and an EBITDA margin of close to 60%.