iCON Infrastructure to Buy Northern Fiber in Rescue Deal
(Bloomberg) — Lenders of Northern Fiber Holding GmbH, a struggling German fiber-network operator formerly owned by UBS Asset Management, are finalizing the sale of the company to iCON Infrastructure to avoid a looming insolvency.
For any deal to take place, all the lenders who have together provided the company more than €300 million ($343.4 million) need to consent, according to people familiar with the matter. German bank Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale on Friday finally agreed to do so after resisting the extension of a standstill agreement that expired at the end of June, the people added, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The lender’s approval is paving the way for the transaction to go ahead.
The company’s troubles have been building for months. Earlier this year, UBS Asset Management transferred its shares in the company to a trustee — the law firm Dentons — after the business came under pressure from its debt load. Part of the trustee’s role was to organize a sale process.
Spokespeople for Northern Fiber, which operates under the brands Luenecom, Sewikom and Terralink, weren’t immediately available for comment. Representatives of iCON Infrastructure, NordLB and Dentons declined to comment.
Northern Fiber last year kicked off talks with lenders to overhaul its debt amid a broader selloff in the sector. Fiber-network operators across Germany have been under pressure after ambitious plans to connect homes left firms grappling with higher construction costs and heavy debt loads.
Trustees can facilitate debt restructuring operations by helping to independently manage overhauls on behalf of stakeholders. Bank creditors in particular can be reluctant to take equity on their balance sheet, so this can be a method of giving them more control without ownership.
Lenders to Northern Fiber include NordLB, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB, and Raiffeisen Bank International AG, according to company filings, under an original credit facility of up to €240 million. The European Investment Bank also granted the company a €175 million loan at the end of 2023 to help develop a fiber-optic network in northern Germany.
–With assistance from Libby Cherry.
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