African Infrastructure Investment Managers acquires equity stake in MetroFibre
African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM), one of Africa’s largest infrastructure-focused private equity fund managers, has acquired a minority equity stake in MetroFibre Networx, a South African open-access fibre network operator, through the newly incorporated Digital Infrastructure Investment Holdings platform.
AIIM’s R980 million (about $63.8 million) investment forms part of a R1.5 billion (about $97.6 million) equity funding round to support MetroFibre’s capital expansion plan over the coming three years and will further enhance the company’s empowerment positioning. Existing shareholder STOA, a foreign investment vehicle based in France, is providing incremental funding as part of the transaction together with new investment by the founders of the South African Housing & Infrastructure Fund (SAHIF), Rali Mampeule and Kameel Keshav. The transaction sees AIIM, STOA and SAHIF partner with remaining shareholders of MetroFibre, including Sanlam Private Equity and African Rainbow Capital.
MetroFibre, which was launched in 2010, is a high-growth player in South Africa’s fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) and fibre-to-the-business (FTTB) markets.
Commenting on the transaction, Ed Stumpf, AIIM’s investment director noted, “This investment provides AIIM with an attractive foothold in the digital infrastructure market in South Africa. Despite material investment in recent years, AIIM continues to see a significant deficit in last-mile fibre connectivity across many parts of the country. Fibre networks underpin the growing demand for high speed, low latency home internet and are crucial to facilitate the accelerating digital migration caused by recent global lockdowns.”
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