STOA Infra & Energy has acquired a significant minority equity investment (23.08 percent) in South African open access fibre network operator, Metro Fibre. Metro Fibre is a high growth emerging player in South Africa’s Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) and Fiber-to-the-Business (FTTB) markets. Metro Fibre Networx (Proprietary) Ltd. is a South African company.
STOA is a joint stock French company owned by Caisse des Dépôts and Agence Française de Développement, with a capital base of €600 million ($681 million) earmarked for investments in equity and quasi-equity in developing and emerging countries in the power, telecommunications and transportation sectors, with a strong focus on Africa.
In 2015, Metro Fibre launched its FTTH offering, focusing on the northern suburbs of Johannesburg and Pretoria in the Gauteng Province. In the FTTB segment, Metro Fibre has grown its FTTB services from providing layer one and layer two services to include layer three services, which are provided to wholesale and retail customers. Metro Fibre has strategically developed its FTTB competency to service blue-chip financial services customers, with both local and international corporates among its customer base.
As an emerging market’s focused infrastructure investor, telecommunications is a core sector focus for STOA, and South Africa is also one of STOA’s key targeted geographies. STOA, Metro Fibre’s current shareholders and management team have aligned values and share a common goal for the development of the South African telecommunications sector through the provision of quality products and services over fiber networks.
Marie-Laure Mazaud, deputy CEO of STOA underlines the long-term benefits of this transaction. “The telecommunications sector is a significant driver of economic growth and has direct social impact through the improvement of fast and affordable internet access in Africa. Thus, broadening our portfolio into the telecommunications sector is a natural step for STOA whose objective is to foster socioeconomic development in African countries and reduce digital bridge amongst others. This transaction, which is our third investment in a major infrastructure project, will allow us to collaborate with a strong fiber operator in South Africa and to support a fast-growing company in a dynamic market with increasing demand. We are really confident with our partnership with Metro Fibre and are looking forward to supporting the management to take advantage of new opportunities, reach a critical size and bring top-tier connectivity to homes and businesses in the country.”