Following the announcement on 17 October 2022, Vodafone Group Plc (“Vodafone”) announced today that it has completed the sale of 50% of its German Fibre-to-the-Home company (“FibreCo” or the “JV”) to Altice. The creation of the JV received European Commission approval last month.
FibreCo will deploy fibre-to-the-home to up to 7 million homes in Germany over a 6-year period.
Over the roll-out period, FibreCo intends to invest up to c.€7 billion, which will be partly financed by debt that will be non-recourse to Vodafone and Altice. Total debt facilities of up to €4.6 billion have been arranged with a group of leading financial institutions to support the network deployment.
As highlighted in the original announcement, Vodafone is expected to receive cash proceeds from Altice in excess of Vodafone’s share of equity contributions over time.
This partnership with Altice is complementary to Vodafone’s upgrade plans for its existing hybrid fibre cable network.
