Private equity firm Ardian is looking to make as many as a dozen investments across the telecom, energy and transportation segments over the coming years, after raising $2.1 billion through its Americas Infrastructure Fund V (AAIF V). Michael Obhof, Managing Director for Ardian’s U.S. Infrastructure Team, told Fierce it’s particularly interested in mid-market opportunities in the fiber space.
Founded in 1996, France-based Ardian currently has more than 900 employees scattered across 15 offices in Europe, the Americas and Asia, with Obhof a member of the 60-person Infrastructure team. It has previously invested in several telecom companies, including Zayo, Spanish FTTH company Adamo and French ISP Alsatis.
The firm launched its Americas infrastructure fund in 2018. The latest iteration announced this week raised more than two-and-a-half times the $800 million Ardian secured with the original four years ago.
Stefano Mion, Co-Head of Ardian Infrastructure Americas, told Fierce the $2.1 billion will be split across 10 to 12 investments in the aforementioned verticals over a five year period. Approximately 15% of AAIF V has already been committed to U.S. based site management company Unison, which buys telecom ground leases in the tower space.
As far as its interest in telecom is concerned, Obhof said it will look at options in the tower, ground lease and data center spaces. But he added it sees “a lot of opportunity” in the fiber market. It is particularly interested in fiber assets that can be used to address multiple different business lines.
So, for instance, that could include long haul fiber assets for enterprise clients that can also support ISPs looking to deliver fiber-to-the-home services. Or metro fiber transport that could deliver connectivity to small cells. It’s also got its eye on dark fiber holdings.
Though there is plenty of private equity interest in fiber at the moment, Obhof said there is relatively less competition in the middle market segment it is targeting.
“We do have real competition, we do compete against other funds for investment opportunities,” he said. “What I would say is we’re patient. We try to find the opportunities we think have some additional complexity.”
He added Ardian’s partnerships across the telecom space are a differentiator for the firm. “It’s not just money that we’re bringing, but we’re bringing operating partners that can sit on the board, that can work with corporate CEOs to drive value, drive strategy, help them identify where to take the business next or maybe some things to avoid,” Obhof concluded.