BOCA RATON, Florida and
HELSINKI, Finland, April 11, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Digital
Colony, a global investment firm focused on enabling the next
generation of mobile and internet infrastructure, today announced
that a Digital Colony affiliate has entered into a binding
agreement to acquire 100 percent of the capital in Digita Oy
("Digita") from First State Investments ("First State").
Digita is the owner and operator of the premier nationwide
digital terrestrial television ("DTT") and radio broadcasting tower
infrastructure network in Finland.
Founded in 1999 as a spin-off from national broadcaster Yle, Digita
is Finland's leading TV and radio
broadcasting network and the only platform with the ability to
reach nearly 100 percent of the Finnish population. The company is
also Finland's largest independent
tower network owner, providing infrastructure solutions to the
country's largest mobile network operators. Digita will continue to
be led by CEO Juha-Pekka Weckström and the existing management
team.
"I am grateful for the support First State has provided to
Digita over the years," said Weckström. "Together with First
State, we have invested more than €40 million into Digita to
upgrade our network and to start new business lines including data
centers and internet of things ("IoT") services. Partnering with
Digital Colony will help Digita continue to enhance its network and
facilitate a first class customer experience."
"Digita is well-positioned to extend its business model into
adjacent markets as the deployment of 5G will increase demand for
new macro towers, rooftop sites, small cell deployments, and data
centers," said Ben Jenkins,
Managing Partner at Digital Colony. "We look forward to
partnering with Digita's highly experienced team to ensure that the
company's processes and systems remain best in class to provide
customers state-of-the-art solutions across the entire value
chain."
"We are pleased to have reached an agreement to sell Digita to
Digital Colony," said Niall
Mills, Partner, Infrastructure Investments at First
State. "Under our ownership, Digita has successfully refocused
on its core competencies, extended all of its key broadcasting
contracts, led the transition to high definition DTT and secured
all six ultra-high frequency DTT Multiplex licenses in 2017. This
secures Digita's role as Finland's
nationwide TV broadcast infrastructure provider over the long-term.
We are confident that under Digital Colony's ownership, Digita will
continue to be well positioned to further develop as Finland's leading tower network company."
The transaction, which is subject to customary regulatory
approvals, is expected to close in Q2 2018. Financial terms of the
transaction were not disclosed. Bank of America Merrill Lynch and
ICECAPITAL served as financial advisors, with Roschier acting as
legal advisor to First State. Ashurst LLP provided legal counsel to
Digital Colony.
About Digital Colony
Digital Colony is a global
investment firm focused on enabling the next generation of mobile
and internet infrastructure. Digital Colony is a joint venture
between Digital Bridge Holdings, LLC, a leading owner and operator
of digital infrastructure businesses and Colony NorthStar, Inc.
(NYSE: CLNS), a leading real estate investment management firm. The
principals of Digital Colony collectively have 23 years of
investment and operating history, having founded, operated and
successfully exited from multiple businesses in the digital
infrastructure space. Digital Colony's focus is to invest in four
key segments of mobile and internet infrastructure (macro cell
towers, data centers, small cell networks, and fiber networks) to
take advantage of physical infrastructure convergence ahead of the
anticipated global 5G rollout and beyond.
About Digita
Digita transmits radio and television
programs to nearly everyone living in every corner of Finland every
day of the year. Digita also applies the latest digital technology
in order to develop and offer versatile online television and radio
services. In addition, its service portfolio includes comprehensive
Internet of Things services based on its nationwide network, as
well as world-class Data Center Services. Digita's clients are the
national broadcaster YLE, media houses and mobile and broadband
operators that provide quality content and services.
About First State Investments
First State Investments
is a global asset management business with experience across a
range of asset classes and specialist investment sectors. First
State Investments is owned by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and as at 31
December 2017 managed £127.5 billion of assets on behalf of
clients worldwide. In Australia
First State operates as Colonial First State Global Asset
Management. First State offers a range of investment solutions to
institutional and retail investors globally, including equities,
debt, multi-asset and unlisted infrastructure.
First State Investments approach to investment is driven by a
commitment to providing the best possible outcomes over the long
term for its investors. To achieve this, First State Investments
ensure its interests are aligned with its investors and upholds a
culture of always acting in its clients' best interests.