Proximus acquires full ownership of Fiberklaar
Proximus has reached an agreement with EQT Infrastructure on the acquisition of its majority stake in Fiberklaar, for a purchase price of EUR 246 million.
Fiberklaar was founded as a joint venture in 2021, following an agreement between Proximus and EQT Infrastructure. Since then, it has played an instrumental role in accelerating fiber deployment in medium-dense areas across Flanders. The active construction projects of Fiberklaar will continue to contribute to Proximus' fiber roll-out strategy.
Proximus today holds 49.67% of Fiberklaar's shares. With the acquisition of the remaining shares for EUR 246 million, Proximus becomes 100% owner of Fiberklaar. This ensures enhanced strategic autonomy and increased flexibility for Proximus in the deployment of fiber in Flanders. Furthermore, the agreement is expected to generate synergies through optimizing funding costs and will allow to exchange best practices and continue to roll out fiber in an efficient, qualitative and customer-friendly way going forward.
Fiberklaar will pursue its operations as a standalone entity within the Proximus Group. The company will continue to be led by the current management team, with 100% representation of Proximus in the Board of Directors and reinforced operational collaboration between both companies.
The closing of this transaction is expected in the coming days. This will lead to the consolidation of Fiberklaar financials, a few years ahead of the initial projections. With Proximus being controlling owner of Fiberklaar, the related future Fiber capex requirements will be consolidated in the Proximus Group. For 2024 this would lead to a total expected Group Capex of around EUR 1.36 billion, with a similar profile to be expected throughout the Fiber build phase of 2025-2027.
Over the past three years, Fiberklaar, with full support of EQT Infrastructure and Proximus, has transformed from a start-up into a strong deployment engine. Becoming the only shareholder of Fiberklaar will allow us to work more closely together and further increase the efficiency and quality of the fiber roll-out in Flanders, while capturing the value generated by synergies.
Private capital has a huge role to play in supporting companies solving connectivity gaps and modernizing digital infrastructure. We are pleased to have helped Fiberklaar scale so quickly together with Proximus, drawing on our vast experience of multiple fiber-to-the-home rollout projects across geographies. We thank the entire Fiberklaar team for their contribution and look forward to following the Company's journey as it continues to foster digital inclusion and contribute to the prosperity of the Flemish Region.
I am very grateful to EQT for their great cooperation and support and look forward to the next phase of our partnership with our sole shareholder Proximus. Fiberklaar has played an instrumental role in accelerating fiber deployment in the Flemish region, driving digital inclusion in Belgium which continues to lag other European countries in terms of fiber coverage. We have achieved many impressive milestones over the last years with our most valued employees, construction partners and suppliers. With the valuable experience and know-how of the Proximus Group and the good relations with our stakeholders, Fiberklaar is well positioned to continue its mission to further roll out its high-quality and future-proof fiber network open to all.
