DIF Capital Partners leads €250 million+ funding round to expand Valoo’s Finnish fibre rollout

Investment will bring fibre connectivity to 300,000 Finnish households

DIF Capital Partners (“DIF”) is pleased to announce that it is leading a debt and equity funding round worth in excess of €250 million for Valoo (Adola Oy), which will help it expand its optical fibre rollout to underserved regions and municipalities in Finland. DIF’s equity investment is made through its CIF III fund. The funding is a follow-up to the initial investment made by DIF’s CIF I fund which supported the first part of the growth trajectory of the company.

While DIF acts as the lead investor, the funding round is also backed by Tesi (Finnish Industry Investment Ltd) and other investors. Senior debt has been provided by a banking group of SEB, NORD/LB and NIBC.

The funding will allow delivery of long-awaited high-speed fibre connectivity to areas that to date have had to rely mainly on mobile connectivity for internet access. The package will bring fibre to over 300,000 households and secure close to 1,000 jobs within the company and the wider market.

Valoo builds and operates fibre-optic networks across Finland. It does not charge customers for the construction of network connections to their homes, instead basing its business model on long-term customer relationships to provide internet services.

Valoo is set to continue its evolution into Finland’s leading platform for fibre connectivity, thanks to its expanding footprint and a strong national brand. The investment will also help to create the conditions for a future wholesale fibre access market in Finland, strengthening consumer choice. This will allow multiple operators to connect to their consumers through a single infrastructure.

DIF Capital Partners is an independent global infrastructure fund manager and a leading investor in optical fibre rollouts, having funded major projects in Canada, Germany, France, the UK and the USA among others.

“Our follow-up investment in Valoo enables it to connect a much larger number of underserved areas in Finland to fibre broadband infrastructure,” says Willem Jansonius, Partner and Head of CIF Investments at DIF Capital Partners.

“Finnish households have long struggled to access state-of-the-art broadband connectivity, especially outside of major urban areas. That shortfall was highlighted during the lockdowns of the Covid-19 pandemic. This investment will provide a significant improvement to those people’s and communities’ ability to work and participate in the global digital economy.”

“DIF’s investment in Valoo further underscores our position as a major investor in the Finnish market and our continued focus on digital infrastructure across Europe and North America. It’s also a vote of confidence in the successful transformation of Valoo’s business over recent years.”