Interoute, an owner of cloud platform services, has announced that it is taking on new private equity investors.
The move is designed to help fund acquisitions across Europe and the U.S., following funding from Aleph Capital Partners and Crestview Partners.
These investments come in the form of a share purchase agreement with the minority shareholder Emirates International Telecommunications, which holds a 30% stake in Interoute’s business.
Gareth Williams, CEO Interoute, said: "Interoute seeks to more than double its revenues in the next 5 years, underpinned by demand for its enterprise networked cloud services."
"Adding new markets, capabilities and additional customers to experience these services will be the focus of the acquisitions. We are thrilled to have found ambitious tech-savvy partners who want to help us reach that goal."
The value of the investment has not been disclosed and the deal is expected to close in April.
Hugues Lepic, CEO of Aleph Capital, said: "We are very excited about Interoute’s prospects in this new phase of its development. We are delighted to be partners with both the Sandoz Family Foundation and the Interoute management team."
"This transaction is a clear example of how our flexible investment philosophy and our strategic alliance with Crestview allow us to partner with high quality management teams and stakeholders to deliver growth in enterprise value in the companies we invest in."
"We look forward to being value-added partners to one of the leading European fibre and cloud infrastructure and service companies."
The funding will allow Interoute to build out its network of datacentres and cloud computing services. The aim is to consolidate the fragmented markets where national datacentres have arisen.
Brian Cassidy, a Partner at Crestview Partners, said: "Gareth Williams and his team have done a tremendous job managing Interoute, and the company is poised to capitalise on both the increasing demand for bandwidth and cloud-based services."
"We see a lot of consolidation opportunities in the fibre and cloud markets in Europe, which Interoute should participate in."
