GlobalCapital: The €19bn FiberCop transaction has been widely celebrated and won multiple deal awards. What made the transaction stand out and how did the bank contribute to its success?
de Parseval: In July 2024, Telecom Italia completed a groundbreaking €19 bn transaction, selling its fixed line infrastructure business to a consortium led by KKR, one of the world's largest private equity funds. This historic divestiture—the first time an incumbent telecom operator has sold its network—included Telecom Italia's broadband fiber optic network, traditional copper telephone lines, and several related operations.
The transaction stemmed from Telecom Italia's strategic plan, initially unveiled in July 2022, when management announced its intention to shift from a vertically integrated structure toward a more focused business model to address both internal challenges and market pressures.
This transformation delivered multiple value-creating advantages:
Strategic Focus: The divestiture has enabled Telecom Italia to concentrate resources on its three remaining core divisions — TIM Consumer, TIM Enterprise, and TIM Brasil — while identifying and eliminating operational inefficiencies.
Financial Strength: Following the transaction's completion, TIM has begun regaining financial flexibility through significant deleveraging and improved capital allocation. This has resulted in a credit rating upgrade to the high-BB range
Competitive Positioning: Telecom Italia is now better equipped to address competitive and regulatory challenges, with enhanced ability to accelerate growth initiatives.
The FiberCop transaction represents Europe's largest digital infrastructure financing to date, with a final debt package of €12.2 bn.
The comprehensive rating assessment conducted for both entities resulted in FiberCop receiving Ba1/BB+/BB ratings from Moody's, S&P, and Fitch respectively, while Telecom Italia achieved Ba3/BB/BB ratings.
Notably, the entire debt package was underwritten on an unrated basis prior to both the rating process outcome and Telecom Italia's liability management exercise. This approach required potentially placing the full amount in bank/private placement markets—an unprecedented undertaking that demanded extensive analysis across investment-grade and non-investment-grade expertise to ensure market absorption capacity.
Walker: This was a complex deal, distributed to the global market. When it comes to distribution and sales we have people on the ground in Milan, in addition to specialist sales we have sales people in the Gulf, Asia and the Americas. A deal of this size allows us to show what Crédit Agricole CIB can do in terms of tapping into that global liquidity. The scale of the initial transaction shows what the private debt market can absorb. A few years ago we wouldn't have contemplated a transaction of this size. Now we see this as fully possible on an underwritten basis.
GlobalCapital: With regard to renewables financing, what were some of the highlights for the bank in 2024?
Walker: We've seen good deal flow supported by our excellent advisory franchise, which is well integrated with our strong lending and underwriting business. There are a few transactions that spring to mind. One was the 500MW Fecamp offshore wind farm refinancing in France where we had a leading role. There was the refinancing for Sonnedix onshore solar PV portfolio in Spain where we were co-advisor and played a leading role on the arranging side and there was the KKR take-private of Encavis, which was more energy and less of a pure play renewable transaction.
GlobalCapital: What are your expectations for how the infrastructure and renewable loan markets will evolve in the near term?
Walker: For renewables we’re expecting more large jumbo offshore wind transactions, particularly in the UK and Poland. Across southern Europe - Spain and Italy in particular - we expect to see more onshore renewables portfolio transactions of size coming through as major market drivers. For infrastructure, it will be a combination of capex add-ons and high speed rolling stock transactions, and also some P2P or other acquisition driven activity in the airport space.
de Parseval: The digital infrastructure landscape is dominated by three key sectors: fiber networks, telecommunications towers, and data centers. Among these, the data center segment is experiencing exceptional growth. While abundant deal opportunities will emerge, our success hinges on maintaining disciplined selectivity to identify truly compelling investments. In the fiber sector, our focus will shift toward refinancing and capital structure optimization. Though historically unrated, these fiber assets will increasingly require comprehensive core rating analysis as part of refinancing strategies to meet evolving market demands.
GlobalCapital: Finally, what makes Crédit Agricole CIB so well positioned to take advantage of these trends?
de Parseval: Credit Agricole CIB’s distinct competitive advantage lies in the seamless integration between our origination, sectorial, advisory, and syndication divisions. The leadership across these teams demonstrated over decades of market presence brings unparalleled institutional knowledge and continuity. This foundation, coupled with unwavering support from executive leadership, enables us to lead and structure the large transactions we have seen in the telecommunications sector. This integrated approach meaningfully differentiates us from competitors in the marketplace.
Walker: Last year we reorganised the team to better align with the market, structuring it into dedicated syndicate, specializing by origination sector and a specialist sales team for PF and infra-like sectors, led by a recent senior hire, Charles-Henry Salmon to further strengthen our investor relationships.
With strong Management support for underwriting, we leverage our expert teams and significant balance sheet capacity to execute large transitions with agility. Our deep relationship with institutional investors are key to supporting the renewable and distribution sectors, reinforcing the bank’s edge in high-value, complex deals.