Apax Partners, Fortino Capital complete acquisition of Melita

Last year, an agreement was reached between Melita’s previous shareholders and international investors Apax Partners (France) and Fortino Capital (Belgium) for the acquisition of the company.

22 February 2016, 10:51am

2 min read

Melita’s Board of Directors announces that the necessary regulatory approvals for a change in the Group’s shareholders were received and that the new shareholders - Apax Partners (France) and Fortino Capital (Belgium) - have now completed the acquisition of Melita.

As announced on 8 December 2015, an agreement was reached between Melita’s previous shareholders (GMT Communications Partners, MC Venture Partners, Blackrock Communications and the Gasan Group) and international investors Apax Partners (France) and Fortino Capital (Belgium) for the acquisition of the company.

Apax Partners and Fortino Capital together bring more than 30 years of experience in the Technology, Media and Telecom (TMT) sector, alongside companies such as Numericable Belgium & Luxembourg, Cabovisão and ONI, Outremer Telecom, Telenet and Primacom. The new shareholders will provide strategic support for Melita as well as the human and financial resources necessary to enable the Group to grow further its B2C and B2B business.

The company’s management team had welcomed the announcement of new shareholders and described it as recognition of Melita’s consistent growth throughout the past years, based on a clear strategy of delivering customer value through convergence.

Over recent years Melita completed key infrastructure investments that have been recognised by the European Commission and enabled Malta to place at the top of the European charts for next generation broadband coverage.

These investments include nationwide 3G mobile network, laying of a submarine cable connecting Malta to mainland Europe, nationwide deployment of next generation broadband with speeds up to 250Mbps, construction of a state-of-the-art data centre for co-location and hosting services, as well as the roll-out of melita WIFI - the next-generation Wi-Fi service providing seamless superfast connectivity across Malta and Gozo. Melita also continues to invest in dedicated Fibre connectivity to businesses across all Malta and Gozo.