Mubadala buys minority stake in European fibre and data company GlobalConnect

Mubadala Investment Company has signed a deal to acquire a minority stake in Sweden-based data and services company GlobalConnect, as Abu Dhabi’s strategic investment arm continues to expand its technology and communications portfolio.

EQT Infrastructure, the investment vehicle of global private equity company EQT Partners, has sold part of its shareholding to Mubadala, the companies said in a statement on Friday. They did not reveal the size of the stake or the financial details of the deal. EQT infrastructure, which has been invested in GlobalConnect since 2017, will remain the largest shareholder in the company following the closing of the transaction. With Mubadala as a minority investor in GlobalConnect, EQT Infrastructure aims to broaden the company's long-term shareholder base, while drawing on Mubadala’s prior “investment experience” in data centre and fibre-to-the-home assets in different markets.

“As data usage and internet traffic continue to increase, it is vital that the underlying digital infrastructure keeps up to meet future demand,” Carl Sjölund, a partner at EQT Infrastructure’s advisory team, said.

“EQT Infrastructure remains committed to GlobalConnect’s ambition to increase societies’ digital connectivity and we are happy to welcome Mubadala to come along on this journey”.

Headquartered in Stockholm, GlobalConnect is a fibre-based data communication and data centre services provider to enterprises, public institutions and consumers in Northern Europe.

The company was created in 2019 through the merger of four independent fibre platforms in Denmark, Norway and Sweden, owned by EQT Infrastructure. “As a responsible investor, we highly prize those deals that enable us to invest in high conviction assets and sectors for value creation and to deliver a positive impact on communities,” Khaled Al Qubaisi, chief executive, real estate and infrastructure investments at Mubadala, said. “Investing in digital infrastructure allows us to achieve both these goals.”

Mubadala and EQT have partnered together in the past to buy assets. In January, the two companies agreed to acquire Envirotainer, a global temperature-controlled supply chain solutions company for the biopharmaceutical industry.

The financial details of the deal were not provided, but the enterprise value of Envirotainer was about €2.8 billion ($2.99bn), Mubadala said at the time.

Mubadala, which invests on behalf of the Abu Dhabi government, is at the heart of the emirate’s efforts to diversify its revenue base and generate income from sources other than oil. The sovereign fund’s $243.4bn investment portfolio spans five continents. It has interests in aerospace, information and communications technology, semiconductors, metals and mining, renewable energy, oil and gas and petrochemicals.

In recent years, the fund has turned from legacy assets to digital investments, communications and data centre business, life sciences, and the healthcare and bio-medical sectors.

In February, Mubadala participated in a funding round of more than $500 million for Pan-Asia data centre operator Princeton Digital Group. The $350m equity investment by Mubadala was its first in the Singapore-based company.

In 2019, it invested up to $500m in data centre company Cologix along with US investment company Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners. The fund said in December that it had agreed to divest its stake in Cologix to Stonepeak for an undisclosed sum.