Aware Super, Sydney, took a minority stake in bandwidth infrastructure company euNetworks Group Holdings through an investment vehicle managed by real assets manager Stonepeak, according to a statement on Aug. 27.
The deal was part of euNetworks’ €2.1 billion ($2.3 billion) equity recapitalization that was announced also on Aug. 27. The recapitalization involved the Stonepeak vehicle, which was anchored by Mercer and Aware Super, and direct investments from the Investment Management Corporation of Ontario, Toronto, and APG Asset Management, Heerlen.
The size of each investors’ stake was not revealed in the statements. Stonepeak, which has $71.2 billion in assets under management, has owned a majority stake in euNetworks since 2018 and participated in the firm’s debt refinancing in June that provided the company with total debt facilities of €1.3 billion.
As part of the deal, Aware Super portfolio manager for infrastructure Katya Romashkan will have a seat on the board of euNetworks. Aware Super Head of Infrastructure Mark Hector said in the statement that euNetworks was an attractive asset due to its unique duct and fiber footprint and the highest number of "On-Net" data centers relative to European peers.
“These differentiating characteristics have contributed to euNetworks’ historical growth and will enable it to capture the strong industry tailwinds arising out of the acceleration in AI innovation and adoption,” he said.
euNetworks is a market leader in data center connectivity in Europe. The firm builds fiber networks to connect European data centers and data hubs. It has networks in 18 cities, connects more than 542 data centers in Europe and operates a long-haul network that spans 45,000 route kilometers.
Aware Super has A$180 billion ($120 billion) in assets and a A$18.6 billion infrastructure portfolio.
