German Giant RWE Invests in Glass Fiber Specialist vitronet
June 2011
RWE Deutschland AG has bought a 15% stake in vitronet Group, a provider of turnkey glass fiber infrastructure solutions, headquartered in Essen. The company share taken over by RWE Deut-schland was newly formed as part of a capital increase. Livingstone Partners has advised vitronet Holding throughout this transaction.
vitronet has specialized in the expansion of broadband networks and offers a full range of services from project management consultancy to maintenance and servicing. The company has 130 em-ployees at present. vitronet maintains and services over 10,000 km of glass fiber cables including for companies in the RWE Deutschland Group. Clients include telecoms providers, cable network oper-ators, energy suppliers and municipal utilities companies. vitronet combines its own glass fiber net-work sections with sections of third parties and closes any supply gaps by laying broadband cables. With the establishment of essen.net GmbH and Glasfaser Bochum GmbH, the company is pushing ahead with its expansion of glass fiber household connections in the Ruhrgebiet cities of Essen and Bochum, in cooperation with utilities companies amongst others. “Modern IT and communica-tion technologies are unthinkable without glass fibers. With RWE we now have the right partner to further expand our business,” said Harald Ross, managing director of vitronet Group.
RWE Deutschland AG is based in Essen and is the operating company for electricity grids, gas and water supplies, sales and energy efficiency in the RWE Group. The company owns one of the largest distribution grids in Germany. RWE Deutschland has subsidiaries for sales and distribution grid op-eration, grid services and gas storage facilities. Other owned companies pool energy efficiency activi-ties, including electromobility, and the development and operation of smart meters.
RWE Deutschland also develops innovative broadband internet solutions which are implemented together with partners, for example in Rheinland-Pfalz. The investment in vitronet strengthens our expertise, particularly in the planning and production of glass fibers. “Our investment in vitronet provides us with access to the valuable knowhow of a successful company. There is a backlog in the provision of broadband networks particularly in rural areas. We would like to support our local partners in this expansion and have already successfully imple-mented several broadband projects with local partners. At the same time we are strengthening our involvement in the development of smart grids, without which an energy shift in Germany will not be possible,” said Dr. Arndt Neuhaus, CEO of RWE Deut-schland AG.
“Glass fibers lie at the heart of the information society. With its technology, vitronet is on the best path to becoming one of the major players in the development and expan-sion of glass fiber infrastructure in Germany. RWE’s investment highlights the success vitronet has had up to now and opens new strategic perspectives,” said Willi Mannheims, member of the management board and partner of Ventizz Capital Partners Advisory AG which ad-vises solely the Ventizz funds. Ventizz Capital Fund IV L.P. has held shares in the company since spring 2010 and has since then contributed to vitronet’s expansion considerably.
Including this deal Livingstone Partners advised vitronet Group on four transactions within 24 months. Livingstone Partners had advised vitronet Group and its founders already on the acquisition of the Siemens division "data cable networks", on the participation by Ventizz Capital Partners and on the acquisition of specialist engineering office GilLD.E mbH.
For further information contact:
Christian Grandin
T: +49 211 300 495 21
E: grandin@livingstonepartners.de
Phillipp Jeremias
T: +49 211 300 495 31
E: jeremias@livingstonepartners.de
