Deal Talks

Julian Cunningham-Day and Rich Jones, Partners at Linklaters, discuss deal trends in the European fixed line and fibre NetCo space, including what it takes to create a NetCo, the current market motivations behind their formation, and potential risks.  

• Defining NetCos and carveouts from integrated operators - 01:09
• Creating new avenues for new types of investors - 05.50
• Practicalities of establishing a NetCo - 08:43
• Timelines to deal execution - 12.30
• Variations on the ‘NetCo’ concept to achieve different aims - 18:35

Uzi Hadar, CFO at EdgeCloudLink (ECL), the first fully off-grid, hydrogen-powered, modular datacentre-as-a-service provider, discusses the company's sustainability solutions for datacentres, its planned projects and financing plans. 

• What differentiates ECL’s model - 2'44 
• Financing plans and investment proposition - 12’19 
• Types of investors for this model - 17'00 
• Prospective tenant profile - 23'22 

Blue Owl's Head of Digital Infrastructure and Founder of IPI Partners Matt A'Hearn discusses current US Datacentre market risks and investment strategies. Matt talks all things power, site selection, evolving debt financing structures and Blue Owl's build, own, develop invest strategy in the US Datacentre market.  

01:26 - Integrating Stack into the Blue Owl Platform 

05:16 - Evolution of risk analysis for developers and financers 

06:23 - Power: PPAs, grid connection and site selection 

11:31 - Build, own develop, invest method deep dive 

13:50 - Blue Owl's pipeline: greenfield and M&A dynamics 

Randy Brouckman, CEO of EdgeConneX, a global datacentre provider, discusses market expansion plans, investment structures, plus what it takes to manage a global datacentre platform. Randy won the CEO of the Year Award at the TMT M&A Awards EMEA 2025.  

Klaus Hoelbling, TMT Partner and Managing Director at consultancy AlixPartners, discusses the nature of the German and wider European fibre market for 2025, including obstacles and the importance of the state’s involvement in supporting new rollout.  

Dwayne Gibson-White is part of the EY-Parthenon Digital Infrastructure team. He discusses power allocation, hybrid financing solutions and diversification of M&A activity within the digital infrastructure space as well as credit case comparisons between fibre and datacentre investment. 

Robert A. Yu, CFO at Philippine broadband operator Converge ICT Solutions, discusses the challenges and opportunities transforming the fibre landscape in the Philippines, including how to overcome barriers to network expansion, monetisation strategies, and setting investment and valuation benchmarks in this market.  

Sarah Overbaugh, CFO of Metronet, and Rising Star winner at the TMT M&A Awards USA 2024, discusses her career journey, insights into Metronet’s recent partnership with T-Mobile and KKR, new financing strategies, and the future of fibre broadband.  

Marc Zahr, Co-President and Head of Real Estate, Blue Owl Capital, discusses Blue Owl’s seismic entrance into the datacentre market, including its recent acquisition of IPI Partners, Blue Owl’s pipeline and future investment strategy. 

Quynh Tran, deputy head of Structured Finance, Americas at SMBC and Matthew Lindgren, executive director of Private Placements, Americas at SMBC discuss the datacentre US private placement market, including the execution of the first deal in the sector, challenges, opportunities and pipeline predictions.