EQT recently announced that the EQT Mid Market Europe fund (EQT Private Equity) has agreed to sell Adamo Telecom to Ardian Infrastructure.
Headquartered in Barcelona, Spain, Adamo is currently the fastest growing and leading open access rural fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) platform in Spain. With a unique nationwide footprint, the Company provides fixed broadband and mobile services to approximately 250,000 retail and wholesale subscribers.
Adamo pioneered fiber broadband services in the Spanish telecom market as the first provider to offer up to 1 Gb/s services. The Company employs 300 people, has a highly dedicated customer focus and provides high-quality and high-capacity services at competitive prices.
EQT Private Equity acquired a majority stake in Adamo in 2017 and has, together with its founders Fredrik Gillström and Xavier Viladegut, as well as the rest of the management team, supported Adamo in its mission to bridge the digital divide in rural Spain. During EQT Private Equity’s ownership period, Adamo has grown its fiber network exponentially from 100,000 homes passed in the Cataluña region to 1.8 million homes across a nationwide footprint through significant investments in organic network roll-out and through network acquisitions.
In parallel, the Company has transitioned from a pure retail model into an open access platform, having secured wholesale contracts with four out of five national operators in the Spanish market, as well as with over 160 local operators.
Fredrik Gillström, Co-Founder of Adamo
This transaction marks an exciting milestone for Adamo. We decided to partner up with EQT to release the full potential of the Company and execute on the market opportunity we saw back in 2016. Five years later, we can conclude that we could not have found a better partner on this journey given EQT’s experience in scaling companies and alignment on values and purpose.
Victor Englesson, Partner and Global Co-Head of TMT at EQT Group
Adamo is a prime example of the strength of combining EQT’s thematic and purpose-driven investment strategy with our local footprint to release the full potential of companies. EQT is immensely impressed over Adamo’s strong development over the past few years and would like to thank Fredrik Gillström for trusting EQT to be Adamo’s partner on this transformative growth journey.
