Back

The Marguerite Fund closes an investment in a fibre optic network in Alsace, France

Luxembourg, April 11 2016 – The Marguerite Fund announced the financial close of the 30 year fibre-to-the-home concession project launched by the Alsace Champagne-Ardenne Lorraine Region in which it has a 37% shareholding, alongside NGE Concessions, Altitude Infrastructure, Quaero Capital and Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations.

The 480 million Euro Project involves the design, construction, financing, marketing, operation and maintenance of a new high speed fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network in the less densely populated areas of the Alsace region, eastern border of France. The roll-out of the network covering 380,000 fibre optic connections in households and small offices in 700 municipalities is expected to be completed by April 2022.

A joint venture comprising NGE and Altitude Infrastructure will undertake the construction works as well as the operation and maintenance of the network.

The Project is financed by a pool of lenders comprising 6 commercial financial institutions (Société Générale, SCOR Investment Partners, Arkéa Banque Entreprises et Institutionnels, Caisse d’Epargne et de Prévoyance D’Alsace, Caisse Régionale du Crédit Agricole Alsace Vosges, Crédit Industriel et Commercial), with the involvement of the European Investment Bank.

“This transaction is the first project financing of this scale in the broadband sector in France. It will set a precedent for future ICT projects and support France’s objective to invest 20 billion euros of public and private funds over the next 10 years to build state of the art high speed fibre networks. The Alsace project marks Marguerite’s first investment in the broadband sector and is another example of its pathfinder investment role”, declared Nicolás Merigó, CEO of Marguerite Adviser S.A.