EQT has launched the sale of its Nordic superfast broadband network and data centre business in the latest potential digital infrastructure deal.
The European buyout group, which bought a majority holding in GlobalConnect in 2017, is hoping the business could be valued at €8bn, according to several people familiar with the matter.
The sale process began earlier this week when documents were sent to potential buyers, which may include Antin Infrastructure Partners, the people said.
Bankers at Goldman Sachs have been appointed to launch the sale, with EQT looking to sell the entire business rather than break it up, two of the people said.
GlobalConnect, which serves more than 900,000 homes in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and northern Germany, is the latest in a series of major digital infrastructure assets to come to market this year.
Brookfield Asset Management began a sale of French telecoms towers operator TDF this summer, while Patrick Drahi is preparing to relaunch a process to sell his stake in XpFibre, his French superfast broadband network.
Meanwhile, DWS is preparing to sell its data centre business NorthC for an expected valuation of about €2bn, with the process anticipated to start in the coming weeks.
GlobalConnect, which also owns 23 data centres, 27 subsea cables and serves some 30,000 business customers, sold 140,000 domestic customers in Norway to telecoms operator Telenor in July.
Some potential buyers think that EQT may need to complete the sale process of GlobalConnect in stages, rather than selling the entire asset in one go.
One person familiar with the process said that EQT hoped a sale of the whole business was more likely, but was also exploring the possibility of selling one part separately.
In 2022, the buyout firm sold a minority stake in GlobalConnect to Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund Mubadala.
GlobalConnect posted revenues of 8.1bn SEK, equivalent to $875mn, in 2024, with adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation of 4.8bn SEK, or $475mn.
Goldman Sachs, GlobalConnect, Antin, Mubadala and EQT all declined to comment.