Ventizz Capital Fund IV L.P. acquires equity interest in the glass-fiber infrastructure provider conlinet
March 18, 2010
Ventizz Capital Fund IV L.P. has acquired a 44.2% interest in conlinet Holding, Essen, a provider of turnkey glass-fiber infrastructure solutions and fiber-to-the-home networks. conlinet specializes in building broadband networks and offers its customers end-to-end services from consulting through to project management and also maintenance and network security. The conlinet Group itself has also participated in open access networks in German cities since 2009.
conlinet’s customers include, in particular telecommunication services providers, cable network operators, energy supply companies and cities. The company combines its own glass-fiber network sections with sub-sections from third parties and also closes gaps in supply by laying new broadband cables. For example, in cooperation with one municipal partner, the company will lay around 45,000 glass-fiber house connections in one of Germany’s ten largest cities over the coming years. The resulting high-speed network will then be rented to telecommunication providers and cable network operators via a joint venture.
“conlinet is moving on an extremely dynamic and exceptionally future-oriented market with its business model. In future, this market will require immense investments in infrastructure. Building the broadband network to become a so-called end-to-end next-generation network has only just started in Germany – in contrast to other European countries,” commented Willi Mannheims, Managing Board member and Partner with Ventizz Capital Partners Advisory AG, which exclusively advises the Ventizz funds. “conlinet has the huge advantage that established an excellent position on this market at an early stage, and it already operates at a profit. This is an excellent basis to allow optimum use of the future opportunities for growth.” The Ventizz private equity funds acquire interests in high-tech companies in German-speaking countries and the rest of Europe, and drive their growth both strategically and also operationally.
The two conlinet shareholders Harald Ross and Iris Comfere, who now each still hold an interest of 27.9% in the company, are confident that their decision will have a very positive effect on business growth.
“We have found a financially strong partner in the form of Ventizz, and our new partner will help us to continue to actively drive our growth. We aim to become one of Germany’s leading glass-fiber providers,” commented Harald Ross. “Ventizz’s entry gives us the opportunity of getting significantly closer to this objective. The growth financing from Ventizz will also allow us to secure additional key projects for the future.” He will continue to manage conlinet Holding together with his colleague Thomas Simon. Mr. Jan-Christoph Maiwaldt, formerly also a managing director with conlinet Holding, is resigning in mutual agreement with the Management and will support conlinet in future as a consultant. Ventizz and conlinet have agreed to maintain silence about the transaction price.
Company profiles:
Ventizz Capital Partners was formed in 2000 and has offices in St. Gallen and Düsseldorf. Ventizz Capital Partners exclusively advises the Ventizz private equity funds that offer equity capital for the growth of high-tech companies in the German-speaking region. Ventizz has three partners: Dr. Helmut Vorndran, Reinhard Löchner and Willi Mannheims. Together with a team of 17 professionals they currently advise four funds with capital under management totaling EUR 675 million. Ventizz Capital Fund IV L.P. is the largest of the four funds set up to date. After six months of fund-raising, this fund was closed at the end of 2007 with a volume of EUR 450 million and is thus one of the largest private equity funds for venture capital and medium-sized tech buy outs in the German-speaking region.
To date, Ventizz funds have invested in 32 companies focusing on renewable energy, medical technology, information and communication technology and on other branches of industry offering high value-added. In addition to a large number of trade sales, Ventizz has successfully placed three of its participating interests (ersol, SAF, PV Crystalox Solar) on the stock exchange.
The Essen-based conlinet Group is a market-leading full-service provider of turnkey glass-fiber infrastructure solutions and operates independently of a specific group. In addition, conlinet also operates its own glass fiber networks and maintains and services more than 10,000 kilometers of glass fiber network cable. Its customers include energy supply companies, municipal utilities companies, cable network operators and carriers.
The company has been involved in future-proof glass fiber infrastructure solutions via one of its current total of five subsidiaries since 2001. The conlinet Group has more than 70 employees and has enjoyed strong growth over the past few years. The conlinet Group itself has held participating interests in network companies via its subsidiary vitronet Beteiligungen GmbH since 2009.
On the Internet at: www.conlinet.de
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