Warburg Pincus has sold its stake in the Polish cable operator Inea to Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 5 for an undisclosed fee.
Inea is based in Poznan and the largest cable operator in the country’s Wielkopolska region. Warburg Pincus initially invested in Inea in 2013 by acquiring a strategic minority stake in the company. It then went on to become the majority owner and oversaw a period of heavy investment. This resulted in Inea’s EBITDA doubling and the company becoming the fastest broadband provider in the country.
Commenting on the deal, Janusz Kosinski, president of the management board and co – founder of Inea, said: “We are pleased at the progress we have achieved through our partnership with Warburg Pincus . I have truly enjoyed a multi – dimension support from Warburg Pincus and look forward to partnering with Macquarie and leveraging their strong telecommunications infrastructure experience to support Inea’s further growth.”
Adarsh Sarma, MD, Warburg Pincus, added: “We are proud of the transformative investments and significant network expansion completed during our ownership of INEA. The Company is very well positioned for future growth, and we wish Janus z and the entire INEA team continued success. As growth investors, we feel privileged to have supported Inea in building the best quality operator with the best infrastructure in the country.”
Leigh Harrison, European head of Macquarie Infrastructure and real assets, said: “As one of the largest fibre – to – the – home (FTTH) and cable network operator s in Western Poland, INEA has successfully built a best in class network that delivers essential telecommunications services to the community. With considerable potential to expand the business we are delighted to work alongside Inea’s current management to continue strengthening its position as the preferred telecommunications infrastructure access and service provider in the region.”
