Cube Infrastructure Managers will become a shareholder of DST Telecomunicações, which will be jointly controlled with the DST group. Objective: to invest another 50 million euros in the country's fiber optic coverage, to reach 500 thousand homes within two years.

The telecommunications arm of DST, which since 2008 has already invested 120 million euros in infrastructure to cover the fiber optic network in the national territory, has signed a partnership with a fund of Cube Infrastructure Managers, which has as a main objective to reach the 500 thousand houses covered by the beginning of 2020, in an additional investment budgeted at 50 million euros.

A partnership that "reflects the entry of Cube as a shareholder, through the sale and increase of capital of DST Telecomunicações, a sub-holding company for the telecommunications sector and which owns DSTelecom," the president of the group from Bra- zense told Business.

Asked about how the shareholder of the Portuguese fiber optic wholesaler would be, José Teixeira said that "after the transaction, the control will be joint", refusing to mention the value of the operation, which, he claimed, "cannot be disclosed by itself. dealing with reserved matter ". Only now "the approval of the Competition Authority", he stressed.

He said he was "very pleased with the partnership with Cube, which has proven to be the ideal partner not only for the demonstrated ability to work as a team but also for their experience and international presence."

With the entry of the Cube Infrastructure Fund II, DST Telecomunicações, which presents itself as the leader in open access fiber optic network in Portugal, intends to continue its investment program, providing for an additional 50 million euros over the next two years .

"This investment will allow us to reach the goal of making available to our clients, who are the main telecommunication operators of the country, a minimum of 500 thousand houses - from 300 thousand today, reaching 360 thousand in 2018, 460 thousand in 2019 and half a million in 2020, "said the president of DST.

"But it does not exhaust our ambition to continue to grow in new areas," added José Teixeira, adding, without elaboration, that "with this partnership, from an international point of view, perspectives are opened to replicate the current model of neutral operator of broadband networks developed in Portugal in other European countries ".

According to José Teixeira, DSTelecom invoiced 10 million euros last year and this year is expected to reach 15 million.

Renaud de Matharel, CEO of Cube Infrastructure Managers, said he was "also enthusiastic about working with the DST group", which he described as "a strong and respectable partner with a strong entrepreneurial spirit and a shared vision for infrastructure of communication".

This Cube investment in DST Telecomunicações, he said, "fits perfectly" into the buy-&-grow strategy of this Luxembourg fund, "similar" to the one it "implemented in Covage" [congener of the Portuguese company] in France.

"We are happy to commit significant resources to this ambitious long-term partnership by promoting the growth of DST Telecomunicações in the open access networks as well as in the area of ​​smartcities," concluded Renaud de Matharel.

Cube is one of the leading European infrastructure funds, focusing mainly on three strategic markets - public transport, energy supply (mainly district heating and energy efficiency) and fiber optic communication networks.

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