Ancala acquired a majority interest in Fore Freedom in 2018 to expand its existing asset base of open-access fibre networks across the Netherlands. We had been proactively researching the market to identify a platform investment opportunity in the Dutch fibre market, which was growing and highly fragmented at the time.
Ancala identified Fore Freedom as a key player pursuing an attractive strategy of building networks only when demand and a minimum payback period had been secured. Its existing management team was looking for investment to accelerate a growth strategy. Ancala secured the investment on a bilateral basis.
Following the investment, the business delivered a buy-and-build strategy to expand Fore Freedom’s owned sites to more than 80 business parks.
The Ancala team worked in partnership with Fore Freedom’s management team to enable profitable growth through implementing best practice management processes and providing streamlined access to capital to build new networks. We also guided the management team to deliver a targeted recruitment programme to enhance the business development and finance functions. Our team worked closely with the company to optimise its product offerings, pricing strategy and marketing approach.
Ancala exited its investment in Fore Freedom following a successful investment period. The timing of the disposal coupled with Ancala’s value creation plan enabled us to capitalise on the favourable valuations of telecoms companies at the time.