Private equity firm Warburg Pincus has sold inexio, a provider of fibre-optic broadband networks in Germany, to EQT Infrastructure.
Co-shareholders Deutsche Beteiligungs AG and other minority investors are selling their stakes alongside Warburg Pincus.
Inexio was founded by David Zimmer in 2007 and has invested heavily in fibre-optic infrastructure in rural and small-town communities in Germany, predominantly in the South and South West. Today, the Company provides high-speed internet access to more than 110,000 customers and 6,000 businesses. Inexio’s unique and scalable network, consisting of more than 10,000 km of fibre-optic infrastructure, provides a strong platform for continued growth.
Warburg Pincus invested behind entrepreneur David Zimmer in 2016. In just three years, inexio has more than doubled its network footprint, grown its customer base by over 70 per cent, completed two value enhancing acquisitions and more than doubled EBITDA.
Rene Obermann, Managing Director of Warburg Pincus Deutschland GmbH, says: “Warburg Pincus is proud of inexio’s achievements since the beginning of our partnership with David Zimmer and his team in 2016. Together, we have further accelerated the organic growth of the business, made very substantial infrastructure investments in Germany and completed two acquisitions. Our investment in inexio and our partnership with David are textbook examples of our strategy to back first-class founders and entrepreneurs to build sustainable businesses for the future. David and his team have done an excellent job and we wish them all well in the future.”
David Zimmer, Founder and Chief Executive of inexio, says: “We are grateful for the excellent partnership with Warburg Pincus over the past three years – their operational and financial expertise have been instrumental to our strong development and they have been a strong and trusted partner. From our excellent position today, we will continue to invest heavily to bring modern and reliable fibre-optic infrastructure to two million German households by 2030.”
Completion of the transaction is subject to approval by antitrust authorities. Evercore, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Rothschild & Co and EY acted as advisors to Warburg Pincus.
