Skaylink acquired by VODAFONE GROUP

By acquiring the German cloud specialist Skaylink from the Dutch private equity firm Waterland, Vodafone Group Plc accelerates the consolidation of its digital and cybersecurity services into a unified enterprise offering. Officially announced in late October 2025, this definitive corporate transaction involves the purchase of 100% of the target's share capital for a total consideration amounting to an enterprise value of . At the time of this strategic buyout, the acquired IT platform recorded in annual turnover for the 2024 fiscal year and generated an estimated EBITDA of . This financial profile implies an EV/EBITDA valuation multiple of , allowing the exiting financial sponsor to fully monetize its majority stake following an extensive investment cycle that successfully scaled the asset from a fragmented collection of niche providers. To orchestrate this complex cross-border transfer of control, the selling shareholder mandated Arma Partners to conduct the mergers and acquisitions auction process, while securing commercial due diligence from Boston Consulting Group. Furthermore, the sell-side financial and tax audits were rigorously executed by PwC and EY respectively, with Hengeler Müller providing comprehensive legal counsel for the divestiture. For the acquiring telecommunications giant, this transaction marks the first major capital deployment authorized under Hagen Rickmann, the newly appointed head of the business customer division. The strategic rationale articulated by the corporate board explicitly focuses on internalizing advanced managed cloud capabilities to meet an aggressive internal mandate targeting an expansion of enterprise revenues by one billion euros over a five-year horizon. Rather than relying on external third-party integrators, the buyer will directly deploy the newly absorbed engineering expertise across its existing corporate client base, thereby eliminating external dependencies in its cloud migration services. Subject to customary regulatory approvals from European antitrust authorities, the definitive closing of this sector consolidation is officially slated for the end of March 2026. The capitalization structure governing the purchase relies entirely on the buyer's balance sheet capacity, structuring the agreement without immediate reliance on external leveraged debt facilities.