Marguerite, the pan-European infrastructure investor, and Asterion Industrial Partners, an independent investment management firm focused on European infrastructure in the mid-market, have agreed on the acquisition of Marguerite’s 19.6% stake in Irideos and the concurrent re-investment of the proceeds in Marbles, the holding company that will own 100% of Retelit and 98% of Irideos. The decision follows Asterion Industrial Partners’ recent announcement of the signing for the acquisition of a 78.4% stake in Irideos from F2i by its vehicle Marbles.

Asterion and Marguerite aim to consolidate Retelit’s and Irideos’s positions in the Italian telecom sector by merging the two highly complementary businesses and creating the most significant alternative wholesale access and B2B connectivity provider in Italy with a network of 42,000 fiber km and 34 data centers.

Retelit, acquired by Asterion and delisted from Milan Stock Exchange in November 2021, is one of Italy’s leading independent wholesale providers of fibre services, with a platform of around 15,000 km of fiber, including metropolitan networks in the 14 largest cities, as well as 19 data centers. It offers wholesale access, B2B connectivity and ICT solutions and services to its customers ranging from large telecommunications companies to small and mid-sized corporates.

Irideos is a leading Italian digital infrastructure operator offering connectivity, data center and cloud solutions through a network of 27,000 km fiber optic routes along motorways, the Adriatic coast, metro areas, and 15 data centers. The company’s key data center is the Avalon Campus, the largest Italian interconnection hub strategically located at the same location of the Milan Internet Exchange. Marguerite has been an investor in Irideos since 2017.

“We are excited by the prospect of joining Asterion to create a market leader in the Italian telecom B2B sector, capitalising on synergies and value creation opportunities through the combination of these two companies. We’re investing in the platform aggregating Irideos and Retelit as we believe this combination will create a stronger player and create additional value”, said Michael Dedieu, Managing Partner at Marguerite.

“We are delighted to have Marguerite joining us in this opportunity to create the largest alternative wholesale access and B2B connectivity provider in Italy, leveraging our industrial knowledge. This platform further complements our exposure to Italy and the telecom sector and further aligns us with our aim of helping to bridge the digital gap in our core geographies, while providing a critical foundation for the development of the Gigabit society”, added Guido Mitrani, Founding Partner at Asterion Industrial Partners.

The transaction is subject to clearance by the relevant authorities and is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2022. The value of the transaction has not been disclosed.