Mergers and acquisitions have been a big trend in the broadband industry for several years. But today saw a new twist, as one investment firm focused on broadband providers and on infrastructure such as data centers and cell towers announced that it bought another investment firm’s infrastructure unit. The DigitalBridge Operating Company, LLC through certain subsidiaries, has acquired AMP Capital’s global infrastructure equity investment management business.
The acquisition price was $316 million, with the potential for additional payments for fulfillment of future performance thresholds. AMP Capital’s global infrastructure equity investment management business has been rebranded as InfraBridge.
The deal consists of $141 million in upfront cash for the investment platform, assumption of $127 million of funded sponsor investment and $48 million for embedded carrier interest in InfraBridge’s Global Infrastructure Funds I and II (GIF I and II), subject to post-closing adjustments.
InfraBridge is comprised of four investment funds with $5.6 billion in fee-earning assets under management. Two of these — GIF I and GIF II — have $1.4 billion and $3.4 billion under management respectively. InfraBridge will operate as an autonomous business unit within the DigitalBridge investment management platform.
Damian Stanley, who had been the Global Co-Head, Value-Added Infrastructure Equity at AMP Capital, will be InfraBridge’s managing partner
“InfraBridge complements our ‘full-stack’ investment platform, positioning DigitalBridge to capitalize on high-return mid-market investment opportunities,” DigitalBridge CEO Marc Ganzi said in a press release about the DigitalBridge AMP deal. “Further, the acquisition immediately contributes significant earnings and further advances DigitalBridge’s strategic roadmap towards an asset-light, high-growth asset manager serving secular growth markets.
AMP Capital, which is based in Sydney, Australia, made a strong move into the U.S. in late 2018 with the acquisition of Everstream Solutions LLC, a super-regional network service provider with holdings in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and other states.
DigitalBridge has an investment in Zayo via its interest in Digital Colony, which it launched in 2018 with real estate investment firm Colony Capital.
