Macquarie Capital prepara su salida del capital de Onivia

Macquarie Capital is preparing to exit its stake in Onivia, a major distributor of neutral fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) networks in Spain. According to sources, the Australian-based investment group's departure would involve distributing Onivia's current ownership among Aberdeen Investments and Arjun Infraestructure Partners. Macquarie Capital was the founder and main partner of Onivia during its early years.

Onivia was established in 2019 when Macquarie acquired nearly one million fiber optic access points from MSMSolar. The company then raised capital from Aberdeen and Japanese firm Daiwa, later replacing Daiwa with British company Arjun Infraestructure Partners. However, in April of the previous year, Macquarie reduced its stake to 20%, while Aberdeen and Arjun increased theirs to 40% each.

Onivia operates a footprint of approximately 10.2 million residential, office, and commercial units across more than 1,400 Spanish municipalities, covering its extensive network of FTTH service providers. The company's exit from Macquarie's capital is tied to negotiations with Orange to restructure their commercial relationship, where Onivia acts as a long-term FTTH network provider.

Onivia aims to acquire Orange's 49% stake in Uclés, a fiber vehicle integrated into Onivia, while also extending the customer-provider agreement terms, some of which expire in 2039.

Additionally, discussions are underway for Orange to provide minimum usage or customer guarantees to all Onivia-integrated vehicles, as a concession for improved pricing on rent-for-network services from Onivia. If successful negotiations occur, Onivia's future will become clearer, facilitating its refinancing process by providing more assurance and visibility to its loan syndicate.

This refinancing, which would entail increasing the current debt, would enable Aberdeen and Arjun to acquire Macquarie Capital's stake in Onivia.