The acquisition announced by Cordiant Digital Infrastructure Ltd (LSE:CORD) of BT Ireland's wholesale and enterprise business is another meaningful piece of a jigsaw being put together by the infrastructure investor.
It comes just over a year since the investment company completed another deal for mobile towers in Belgium and data centre businesses in Czechia.
Last week, CORD said it expects its €92.30 million Belgian data centre deal, agreed in October, will be completed in the first quarter of this year as it secures key approvals in Europe.
Today, the investment trust agreed to snap up BT Group's Irish B2B unit for an enterprise value of €22 million, with the deal expected to be completed later this year.
This unit is to be folded into Cordiant's Speed Fibre business, a wholesale and retail broadband services provider that the investment company has owned since 2023.
The acquisition is expected to widen Speed Fibre's range of connectivity solutions and customer base, BT remaining a customer of the combined business under three-year agreements.
Steven Marshall and Benn Mikula of investment manager Cordiant Capital said the deal represents "a significant step in our strategy to build scale in key digital markets such as Ireland", bringing capabilities that "complement Speed Fibre's existing operations, enhance our ability to support the growing connectivity needs of Irish businesses and align with CORD's investment strategy".
The acquisitions come after CORD secured a new €200 million borrowing facility last year, leaving no debt maturing until mid-2029.
Most recent results from the company show its net asset value per share increased to 124.4p as at 30 September, up from 117.9p ex-dividend in March, driven by portfolio company profit growth and a small reduction in the weighted average discount rate.
The NAV performance exceeded its 9% annualized target in the first half of 2024, while an interim dividend of 2.1p per share was in line with 4.2p per share target for the full year.
Over the past 12 months, CORD’s share price discount to NAV has narrowed from a nadir of circa 48% in April 2024 to around 26% at year-end, which analysts at Kepler recently highlighted has made a significant contribution to a share price return of circa 43%.