Norton Rose Fulbright has advised Play Group and Infravia joint venture Polski Swiatlowod Otwarty on a PLN 5.13 billion financing for the upgrade and expansion of its data network infrastructure across Poland. Allen & Overy advised the lenders. Linklaters and Luther reportedly advised Infravia.
The financing package consists of up to seven-year facilities from the European Investment Bank, arrangers and underwriters BNP Paribas Bank Polska, Credit Agricole, KfW IPEX Bank, Santander Bank Polska, and Societe Generale, and lenders Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego, Bank Polska Kasa Opieki, and Powszechna Kasa Oszczednosci Bank Polski.
According to Norton Rose, Polski Swiatlowod Otwarty is “the largest wholesale-only operator in Poland with coverage of over 3.7 million homes passed. Polski Swiatlowod Otwarty will use the financing to carry out an update of its hybrid fiber-coaxial network to fiber-to-the-home standards and expand its FFTH network to cover six million households across Poland. Polski Swiatlowod Otwarty network is available to all telecommunication operators on a wholesale, open-access basis. Play and UPC Polska will serve as anchor tenants.”
Play is a Polish subsidiary of the Iliad Group, one of the largest telecommunications groups in Europe. Play serves over 17 million customers in Poland and also provides ICT solutions and a data center dedicated to business.
InfraVia is an independent private equity firm specializing in infrastructure and technology investments. Its PLN 1.78 billion acquisition of a 50% stake in Play Group subsidiary FiberForce – now known as Polski Swiatlowod Otwarty – was announced in 2022 (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on July 8, 2022) and closed in April 2023 (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on April 14, 2023).
“We are very pleased with this financing which will enable PSO to upgrade its network and also capture the demand in underserved areas,” PSO CFO Jaroslaw Wojciechowski-Boruta commented.
The Norton Rose team included Partners Tomasz Rogalski and Alex Zekkos, Senior Associate Igor Kondratowicz, and Associate Daniel Ksiazek.