Mubadala, Apollo Funds jointly invest $500m in Brightspeed

Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Company (Mubadala) and funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management (Apollo) have agreed to jointly invest $500m (Dhs1.8bn) in US-based broadband service company Brightspeed.

The investment gives Mubadala a minority shareholding in Brightspeed alongside investment funds managed by affiliates of Apollo. “The Brightspeed investment is part of Mubadala’s rapidly growing digital infrastructure portfolio headed by its executive director Mounir Barakat,” the state investor said in a statement.

Mubadala invested $350m into Princeton Digital Group, a pan-Asia data centre company focused on expanding world-class data centre services to meet increasing demand across Asia in February 2022. The Abu Dhabi fund also invested $997.23m in CityFibre, the UK’s largest independent full-fibre platform in February.

“Digital infrastructure is driving growth and development across all sectors of society, enabling people and economies to reach their full potential,” said Khaled Abdulla Al Qubaisi, CEO of Real Estate and Infrastructure Investments at Mubadala.

“Mubadala sees a huge opportunity in supporting Brightspeed’s growth strategy in transitioning large swathes of the US to fibre connectivity and promoting digital equity and inclusion. We’re delighted to be partnering with Apollo and Brightspeed to capitalise on the growth opportunities in fibre deployment and create not only sustainable, long-term value but also support the digital infrastructure development across the US.”

Our Digital Infrastructure team today announced a $500 million investment in @gobrightspeed, a U.S.- based telecommunications and #broadband company serving over 6.5 million homes and businesses in rural and suburban areas. pic.twitter.com/OOxhbloGyW

— Mubadala (@Mubadala) May 2, 2023

Brightspeed, which officially launched operations in October 2022, was founded by Apollo following the acquisition of the broadband and telecom assets of Lumen Technologies.

The company’s planned fibre optics transformation is expected to reach up to three million homes and businesses over the next five years. Brightspeed expects the joint investment from Mubadala and Apollo to help accelerate its growth plans to bring high-speed, dependable internet connectivity to communities where access to fibre internet and advanced technology has historically been limited.

Mubadala, Apollo growing partnership

Meanwhile, Mubadala said its investment in Brightspeed represents the company’s growing relationship with Apollo since the two entities expanded their global strategic partnership in 2022.

The Abu Dhabi wealth fund and Apollo agreed to focus on private credit investment opportunities and deal origination across asset classes last February.

Earlier in January, Mubadala formed a joint venture with Alpha Dhabi to lend about $2.5bn over the next five years through a private credit platform that will leverage the sovereign fund’s partnership with Apollo.

Mubadala will hold 80 per cent ownership in the Abu Dhabi Global Market-based joint venture entity, with the remaining 20 per cent to be held by Alpha Dhabi.

Founded in 2002 to manage a global portfolio for the Abu Dhabi government, Mubadala now manages an investment portfolio worth $284bn with 39 subsidiaries covering six continents across multiple sectors and asset classes.

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