Czech operator Ceske Radiokomunikace (CRA) has changed owner. The investment funds controlled by Macquarie Asset Management, which owned the company for ten years, have sold their shares to the holding company Cordiant Digital Infrastructure for an undisclosed sum.
Listed on the London Stock exchange, Cordiant focuses on investments in the infrastructure of the digital economy – data centres, fibre-optic networks, transmitters and telecommunications towers in the UK, the EU and Northern America.
CRA owns 660 TV transmitters and 3,730 km of fibre-optic lines in the Czech Republic and also provides cloud, data centre and IoT services.
Cordiant said the acquisition of CRA and separate fibre assets in Norway will use up most of the proceeds from its IPO in February, with the acquisitions costing together GBP 451 million, including GBP 133 million in debt. The assets generated adjusted EBITDA of GBP 40.5 million in 2020.
The Norway deal covets a fibre-optic network linking regions of Norway to Scandinavia and Europe beyond. Customers include telecom operators and industrial concerns and utilities who have signed long-term contracts. Approximately half of the network's fibres are leased, offering potential to increase revenues, Cordiant said. In addition, the company has signed an agreement to invest in Norwegian land parcels with substantial power availability, in order to develop data centres in the region.
