Asterion buy Telefonica's microwave radiolink portfolio in Spain

Asterion Industrial Partners, an independent investment management firm based in Madrid, has announced it has acquired Telefónica’s microwave radiolink portfolio in Spain through a carve-out process. The transaction was signed and closed on 31 March 2020.
The assets consist of a portfolio of antennae and radio electronic equipment for 10,800 microwave links (~13,000 circuits), connecting Telefónica’s mobile towers and other enterprise clients’ sites to their terrestrial fibre networks, mainly in low-density areas.
The radiolink network is one of the largest in Spain and has best-in-class interconnection with Spain’s deepest fibre network. The acquisition enables the build out of a rural-focused wholesale digital transport platform in Spain as it provides essential connectivity of isolated areas, providing backhaul transport for mobile networks and the capacity to meet high-speed broadband demand in areas that are not economical to connect with fibre.
The investment is the second partnership between Asterion and Telefónica in critical telecoms infrastructure underpinned with long-term contracts. It is in line with Asterion’s overall investment strategy, which has a long-term commitment to both Spain and the telecoms sector as part of its investment mandate. The transaction also complements Asterion’s Industrial Infra Fund I existing investments in France, Spain and the UK in the energy services, renewables, data center and renewable distributed energy sectors. The company exceeded its target for Infra Fund I which closed with EUR1.1 billion at the beginning of 2020.