Norton Rose Fulbright advises Polski Światłowód Otwarty sp. z o.o. on PLN 5.125bn fiber-to-the-home financing

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright advised Polski Światłowód Otwarty sp. z o.o., the largest wholesale-only operator in Poland with coverage of over 3.7 million homes passed, in a joint venture formed by P4 sp. z o.o. (trading as Play) and Infravia on a PLN 5.125bn (US1.3bn) financing for the upgrade and further development of its access network in Poland.

Polski Światłowód Otwarty will use the financing to carry out an update of its hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) network to fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) standards and expand its FFTH network to cover six million households across Poland. Polski Światłowód Otwarty’s network is available to all telecommunication operators on a wholesale, open-access basis. Play and UPC Polska sp. z o.o. will serve as anchor tenants.

Play is a Polish subsidiary of iliad Group, one of the largest telecommunications groups in Europe. Play is a leading provider of mobile services, fixed-line internet and digital television. It serves over 17 million customers in Poland and also provides comprehensive ICT solutions and a data center dedicated to business.

InfraVia is a leading independent private equity firm specializing in infrastructure and technology investments. Since 2008, InfraVia has raised €10 billion in capital and invested in 50+ companies across 13 European countries, including investments in fibre roll-out in the UK (in cooperation with Liberty Global/Telefónica), Ireland (in cooperation with eir) and France (in cooperation with iliad Group).

The financing was arranged by BNP Paribas Bank Polska, Crédit Agricole, KfW IPEX Bank, Santander Bank Polska and Societe Generale and included also the European Investment Bank, Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego, Bank Polska Kasa Opieki and Powszechna Kasa Oszczędności Bank Polski.

The Warsaw team was led by senior associate Igor Kondratowicz and included Daniel Książek, associate. Tomasz Rogalski, partner, supervised the transaction. English law advice was provided by Alex Zekkos, partner.

InfraVia was advised by Linklaters and Luther. The Lenders were advised by Allen & Overy.