Assisted Vauban Infrastructure Partners and Axione with the creation of the largest independent investment platform for fibre-based assets in France

The problem

• Axione operates more than 20 wholesale-only fibre infrastructure providers in France. A large proportion of investments made by the infrastructure providers are financed by investment funds managed by Vauban Infrastructure Partners. Vauban Infrastructure Partners wished to group these holdings under a single platform (to optimise investment structure of its assets and better position the investment platform, amongst other aims)
• It appointed Analysys Mason as part of a multidisciplinary pool of advisers to conduct commercial due diligence of the assets to be grouped under the platform

The solution

• We reviewed the regulatory context and market trends in France
• For each asset, we developed a business plan, including projected revenue, opex and capex
• We reviewed roll-out plans, take-up curves (migration from standard broadband to fibre), commercial mode (line rental vs co-investment) and final-drop financing by retail operators, as well as evolution of wholesale tariffs over time
• Our report was submitted to existing and potential new investors in response to their commercial and regulatory questions

Figure: FTTH deployment in France (2019)

The result

• On 30 June 2020, Vauban Infrastructure Partners and Axione announced the creation of Vauban Infra Fibre at a press conference in the presence of Cédric O, the French Secretary of State for Digital Services
• This platform is the largest independent investment platform for fibre-based assets in France, involving a EUR6 billion investment plan