Digital Infrastructure Investment Firm of the Year – EMEA

See full criteria here.

Ardian Infrastructure
For deals including the E1.3bn acquisition of a majority stake in Daphne 3, which in turn holds a 30.2% stake in Infrastrutture Wireless Italiane SpA (INWIT), the Italian tower operator; the acquisition of Spanish fibre operator Adamo Telecom; the acquisition of Iceland’s Míla; and the acquisition of Aire Networks in Spain.

DigitalBridge
For deals including: the acquisition of a majority stake in E17.5bn-valued GD Towers in Germany alongside Brookfield; the acquisition of Telenet’s tower portfolio in Belgium; the funding of Netomnia in the UK; the acquisition of AMP Capital’s Global Infrastructure Equity Investment Management Business; the establishment of ÍslandsTurnar in Iceland; the US$1bn expansion into South Africa via Vantage Data Centers; the sale of Wildstone; plus the closing of its Second Global Flagship Fund at US$8.3bn.

InfraVia Capital Partners
For deals including the £4.5bn ‘Opal UK’ fibre joint venture deal with Liberty Global and Telefónica in the UK; Liberty Networks Germany, a greenfield FTTH project with Liberty Global; Fibre Networks Ireland in partnership with eir; the FibreForce JV with Play in Poland; plus continued investment in IFT France, Céleste and Green Data Centre.

KKR
For deals including: the agreed US$16bn deal in partnership with GIP to buy Vantage Towers in Germany; the acquisition of Spanish dark fibre operator Reintel; the sale of a 40% stake of Telxius Telecom in Spain; the sale alongside Altice of Hivory in France; and the Nordic FTTH JV in partnership with Telenor.

Macquarie Asset Management
For deals including the acquisition of a 40% stake in Open Fiber in Italy for E2.12bn; the strategic partnership with NTT covering datacentre investment in Europe and North America; the acquisition of a significant minority stake in UK datacentre operator Virtus; plus Macquarie Capital’s investment into Spanish fibre operator Onivia.

Technology Investment Firm of the Year – EMEA

See full criteria here.

Bowmark Capital
The acquisition of digital transformation IT services company Xperience, IT managed services company Littlefish, workflow automation software company Wallstreetdocs, and next-generation technology consulting company Kubrick. Plus the sale of post-trade automation and collateral management technology company Pirum.

CVC Capital Partners
The acquisition of Visma's IT consulting business division, the acquisition of insurance software company RGI Group and further investment into Italian e-learning company Multiversity. Plus the sale of global flight booking provider Etraveli to Booking.com for E1.63bn, and the sale via Schumann Investments of Italian payment services operator Mooney.

Hg
For deals including the take private of AIM-listed UK compliance software provider Ideagen for £1.058bn; further investment into The Access Group; investment into global cloud software company IFS, fund services software company TrustQuay, financial planning software business LucaNet, and securities software provider Pirum. Plus disposals of Germany’s MEDIFOX DAN for US$1bn, IT services supplier itm8, human capital SaaS company Allocate Software, and supply chain risk management software company Achilles.

Inflexion Private Equity
The sale of UK forex payments and hedging services provider Global Reach, SaaS-based cloud network and service assurance solutions company MYCOM, and risk management solutions provider Alcumus for £600m. Reinvestment into global technology staffing and consulting specialist K2 Partnering Solutions, and the acquisition of logistics software company WithWise.

Oakley Capital
The deal to combine Oakley-backed Iberian business software provider Primavera with Cegid, reinvestment into Italian online price comparison platform Facile.it, the partial sale of gifts and rewards platform Wishcard, and the sale and subsequent reinvestment alongside KKR in cloud hosting platform Contabo.

Providence Equity Partners
For deals including the agreed US$1.6bn acquisition of French automotive data firm A2MAC1, the acquisition of Istanbul-HQ’d cloud-based managed Wi-Fi solutions provider Airties, and investments via portfolio company Node4 into Tisski and risual. Plus the sale of education technology services provider Tes Global.

Technology Deal of the Year – Europe

For deals completed between Sep 1 2021 and Aug 31 2022. Selected for size, complexity and market impact.

See full criteria here.

Content+Cloud (UK)
The acquisition by Advania of UK cloud services and digital transformation provider Content+Cloud from ECI Partners for £352m.
Financial Advisers: Arma Partners (Sell Side), Goldman Sachs, Sweden Bankfilial, Stephens (Buy Side)
Legal Advisers: Travers Smith, Dechert (Sell Side), White & Case (Buy Side)

Ideagen (UK)
The take-private acquisition by Hg of AIM-listed UK compliance software provider Ideagen from shareholders at a total valuation of £1.058bn.
Financial Advisers: Goldman Sachs, Canaccord Genuity (Sell Side), Lazard, Houlihan Lokey (Buy Side)
Legal Advisers: Travers Smith (Sell Side), Linklaters (Buy Side)

Inetum (France)
The acquisition by a consortium led by Bain Capital of French IT Services company Inetum from Mannai Corporation QPSC, at an enterprise value of E1.85bn
Financial Advisers: Lazard, Credit Agricole, JPMorgan (Sell Side), Credit Suisse, Torch Partners, Eight Advisory (Buy Side)
Legal Advisers: Clifford Chance (Sell Side), Weil, Gotshal & Manges (Buy Side)

OneOcean (UK)
The acquisition by Lloyds Register of UK maritime compliance solutions company OneOcean from Equistone Partners Europe for an undisclosed amount (estimated at £225m)
Financial Advisers: Raymond James (Sell Side), JPMorgan (Buy Side)
Legal Advisers: Travers Smith (Sell Side), Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (Buy Side)

Outpost24 (Sweden)
The acquisition by Vitruvian Partners of Swedish cybersecurity company Outpost24 from Monterro for an undisclosed valuation (estimated at £240m).
Financial Advisers: William Blair (Sell Side), Carnegie (Buy Side)
Legal Advisers: Setterwalls, Eversheds Sutherland (Sell Side), Bird & Bird, Kirkland & Ellis (Buy Side)

Veoneer (Sweden)
The take-private acquisition by Qualcomm and SSW Partners of NYSE-listed Swedish automotive software systems and hardware provider Veoneer from shareholders in an all cash transaction valued at US$4.5bn.
Financial Advisers: Morgan Stanley, Rothschild (Sell Side), Centerview Partners, Evercore (Buy Side)
Legal Advisers: Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Roschier (Sell Side), Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison; Davis Polk & Wardwell, Baker Botts (Buy Side)

TMT Leadership Award EMEA

See full criteria here.

Mauricio Bolaña, Partner, Antin Infrastructure Partners
For leading, alongside management, the value creation strategy for Lyntia Networks, which has seen the company become a leading independent neutral wholesale fibre operator in Spain, via organic growth and transformational M&A. The strategy culminated in an agreed deal earlier in 2022 to sell the company to AXA IM, Swiss Life and Morrison & Co.

Greg Mesch, CEO, CityFibre
For driving CityFibre’s continued growth as part of a £4bn investment programme to roll-out full fibre infrastructure to up to 8 million homes by 2025, of which the company has now reached 2 million to become the UK’s second largest full fibre provider. Highlights include securing a new £1.125bn debt and equity package, including from new minority investors Mubadala Investment Company and Interogo Holding, plus a new debt package totalling £4.9bn.

Randy Brouckman, CEO, Edgeconnex
For leading Edgeconnex’s fast organic and inorganic growth offering sustainable datacentre solutions under the ownership of EQT. Highlights include entry into the Belgium market via a greenfield 20MW multi-tenant site, marking the seventh market in EMEA and 40th market worldwide for the company, plus the acquisition of Israel-based Global Data Center (GDC).

Nicolas Robin, Managing Director, Five Arrows Principal Investments
For helping to lead the continued growth of portfolio company A2MAC1, a provider of vehicle benchmarking insights and solutions across the mobility industry, since initial investment in 2017. Robin, along with management, was instrumental to A2MAC1’s strategy development combined with product-led M&A to become a leader in its sector. The strategy culminated in a renewed investment by Five Arrows alongside management and new investor Providence Equity Partners in a deal worth an estimated E1.4bn.

Funke Opeke, Founder and CEO, MainOne
For leading MainOne’s sale to Equinix for US$320m in December 2021. Under Opeke’s leadership, MainOne is recognised as one of West Africa’s leading digital infrastructure and services companies, having built a privately-owned, open access, 7,000km undersea high capacity submarine cable, as well as Nigeria’s largest Tier III data centre.

Jeremy Chelot, CEO, Netomnia
For demonstrating a track record of building businesses from scratch, including Community Fibre and more recently in his current role of CEO at Netomnia, which claims to be the UK's fastest-growing wholesale fibre broadband operator. Chelot has raised substantial funding in record time (from DigitalBridge and existing shareholders) and built an effective organisation while growing rapidly and profitably through technologies and customers.

Digital Infrastructure Deal of the Year – Europe

For deals completed between Sep 1 2021 and Aug 31 2022. Selected for size, complexity and market impact.

See full criteria here.

CETIN Group (Czech Republic)
The acquisition by GIC of a 30% stake in Central and East European telecoms infrastructure company CETIN Group from PPF Group for an undisclosed amount (estimate c. E2.1bn).
Financial Advisers: BNP Paribas, Morgan Stanley, Societe Generale (Sell Side), Nomura (Buy Side)
Legal Advisers: White & Case, BDK Advokati, Lakatos, Koves & Partners (Sell Side), Kinstellar, Loyens & Loeff, Herbert Smith Freehills (Buy Side)

Hivory (France)
The acquisition by Cellnex of a 50.01% stake in French telecom infrastructure operator Hivory from Altice France S.A. for an implied enterprise valuation at 100% of E5.2bn
Financial Advisers: Credit Suisse, Lazard, KPMG (Sell Side), AZ Capital, JPMorgan, BNP Paribas, Morgan Stanley (Buy Side)
Legal Advisers: Darrois Villey Maillot Brochier, De Pardieu Brocas Maffei, Mayer Brown (Sell Side), Herbert Smith Freehills, Clifford Chance (Buy Side)

INWIT (Italy)
The acquisition by the Ardian Infrastructure-led consortium of investors of a majority stake in Daphne 3, which holds a 30.2% stake in Italian telecoms infrastructure operator Infrastrutture Wireless Italiane SpA (INWIT), for c.E1.3bn.
Financial Advisers: Mediobanca, Goldman Sachs, LionTree Advisors (Sell Side), Nomura, Macquarie Capital, Santander, Vitale & Co, Credit Suisse (Buy Side)
Legal Advisers: Gatti Pavesi Bianchi Ludovici (Sell Side), Weil, Gotshal & Manges (Buy Side)

Marlink Group (France, Norway)
The acquisition by Providence Equity Partners of a majority stake in France and Norway-headquartered maritime connectivity company Marlink from Apax Partners, implying an enterprise value of US$1.4bn.
Financial Advisers: Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas (Sell Side), UBS (Buy Side)
Legal Advisers: Jeausserand Audouard, Weil, Gotshal & Manges, Mazars (Sell Side), Paul Hastings, Elvinger Hoss Prussen, Allen & Overy (Buy Side)

Open Fiber (Italy)
The acquisition by Macquarie Asset Management (40%) and CDP Equity (10%) of stakes in Italian fibre operator Open Fiber from Enel, for E2.12bn and E534m respectively.
Financial advisers: Vitale & Co, Community Group, Mediobanca, JPMorgan (Sell Side), Barclays, Macquarie Capital, Deutsche Bank (Buy Side)
Legal advisers: White & Case (Sell Side), Clifford Chance, Grimaldi Studio Legale, Legance (Buy Side)

Reintel (Spain)
The acquisition by KKR of a 49% stake in Spanish dark fibre operator Reintel from Red Eléctrica Group for a total of E971m.
Financial Advisers: UBS, Barclays (Sell Side), Rothschild (Buy Side)
Legal Advisers: Garrigues (Sell Side), Uria Menendez (Buy Side)

Digital Infrastructure Deal of the Year – MEA

For deals completed between Sep 1 2021 and Aug 31 2022. Selected for size, complexity and market impact.

See full criteria here.

MainOne (Nigeria)
Equinix’s acquisition of West African enterprise telecoms and datacentre business MainOne from the founding shareholders for an enterprise value of $320m.
Financial Advisers: Standard Bank (Sell Side)
Legal Advisers: Slaughter & May, Banwo & Ighodalo (Buy Side)

MTN Towers (South Africa)
IHS Towers’ acquisition of 5,709 wireless infrastructure sites in South Africa from MTN for a cash consideration of ZAR6.4bn (c. $370m).
Financial Advisers: Citi, Standard Bank (Sell Side)
Legal Advisers: Webber Wentzel (Sell Side), Herbert Smith Freehills, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (Buy Side)

Teraco (South Africa)
Digital Realty’s acquisition of a majority stake in South African datacentre operator Teraco from a consortium of investors, including Berkshire Partners and Permira, in a transaction valued at c. US$3.5bn.
Financial Advisers: Goldman Sachs, Citi, Morgan Stanley (Sell Side), Solomon Partners (Buy Side)
Legal Advisers: Weil, Gotshal & Manges, ENSafrica, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (Sell Side), Latham & Watkins, Bowmans (Buy Side)

Europe TMT M&A Legal Adviser of the Year – Volume

For TMT M&A deals announced between Sep 1, 2021 and Aug 31, 2022 and over $50m deal value

See full criteria here.

(In alphabetical order)

Allen & Overy

Clifford Chance

DLA Piper

Latham & Watkins

White & Case

Europe TMT M&A Legal Adviser of the Year – Value

For TMT M&A deals announced between Sep 1, 2021 and Aug 31, 2022 and over $50m deal value

See full criteria here.

(In alphabetical order)

Allen & Overy

Clifford Chance

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

Latham & Watkins

White & Case

Europe TMT M&A Financial Adviser of the Year – Volume

For TMT M&A deals announced between Sep 1, 2021 and Aug 31, 2022 and over $50m deal value

See full criteria here.

(In alphabetical order)

Goldman Sachs

Houlihan Lokey

JPMorgan

Lazard

Rothschild

Europe TMT M&A Financial Adviser of the Year – Value

For TMT M&A deals announced between Sep 1, 2021 and Aug 31, 2022 and over $50m deal value

See full criteria here.

(In alphabetical order)

Barclays

Citi

Goldman Sachs

JPMorgan

Morgan Stanley

EMEA TMT Growth Story of the Year

See full criteria here.

BAI Communications (Various)
For a period of transformational growth in telecoms solutions services, including the execution of several key acquisitions, expanding the company’s global footprint with major presence in the US and UK, and growing its headcount by 330 people. Plus the opening of a new Italian business offering neutral host connected infrastructure solutions. Acquisitions include: Mobilitie, Vilicom, Signal Point and ZenFi Networks.

CityFibre (UK)
For continued growth with the company now passing over 2 million homes, thereby becoming the UK’s second largest full fibre provider. Backed by a new £1.125bn debt and equity package, made up of £825m in equity from two new minority investors, Mubadala Investment Company and Interogo Holding, plus an increase of £300m in debt facilities.

Doctolib (France)
For raising a new c. E500m debt and equity fundraising package to become one of the most valuable French unicorns with c. E5.8bn enterprise value. The raise will enable the online healthcare platform to create 3,500 jobs and accelerate its growth across France, Germany and Italy.

Dstny (Belgium)
For the UCaaS and cloud services provider’s continued growth under owner Apax France across Europe, including via a series of acquisitions, namely: Tactful AI, Qunifi, Meridix Systems, Soluno and Telepo.

EdgeConneX (Various)
For its fast organic and inorganic growth offering sustainable datacentre solutions under the ownership of EQT. Highlights include entry into the Belgium market via a greenfield 20MW multi-tenant site, marking the seventh market in EMEA and 40th market worldwide for the company, plus the acquisition of Israel-based Global Data Center (GDC).

Norlys (Denmark)
For the continued roll-out of the largest FTTH network in Denmark, plus a successful transaction to sell a 35% stake in the company to PGGM and EDF Invest in order to further expand its roll-out, invest and make acquisitions. The company serves 1.7 million customers and is the largest integrated energy and telco group in Denmark.

Vantage Data Centers (Various)
For key expansion of hyperscale datacentres throughout the EMEA region, under the ownership of DigitalBridge. Key developments include: the opening of a new two-story 16MW datacentre facility in South Africa and committed investment of over US$1bn into the market, the opening of new sites in Berlin, Warsaw and Zurich as part of a multibillion-dollar European expansion plan, plus a new London HQ to support growth in the EMEA region.

EMEA TMT Due Diligence Adviser of the Year

See full criteria here.

Altman Solon
For advising on over 360 buy-side and sell-side TMT diligence projects globally for approximately 180 individual clients, including on Volpi Capital’s Investment in Xalient, and Westbridge’s investment in cloud and video over IP specialist, Techex. The firm also grew its global headcount by 35% and launched a new Zurich office.

Analysys Mason
For advising on over 350 TMT transaction-related projects, of which the 25 largest were valued at a combined E100bn, including a landmark transaction advising Infravia on its FTTH JV with Liberty Global and Telefónica. Plus milestones including a new partnership with Bridgepoint Development Capital, as well as the acquisition and integration of Northern Sky Research. 

EY-Parthenon
For advising on more than 450 TMT commercial due diligence projects globally and 140 in EMEA alone, including on landmark deals such as DigitalBridge’s acquisition of GD Towers, and the take-private of CyrusOne. Also for the firm’s own expansion, including acquisitions of Bulger Partners and CMA Strategy. 

PMP Strategy
For work establishing itself as a ‘key alternative adviser’ to telecom infrastructure investors in the EMEA region, including work on multiple fibre and infrastructure deals, such as Telenet towers acquisition by DigitalBridge, and Digital 9 Infrastructure’s investment into Arqiva. 

Europe Digital Infrastructure Financial Adviser of the Year – Volume

For M&A deals announced between Sep 1, 2021 and Aug 31, 2022 and over $50m deal value

See full criteria here.

(In alphabetical order)

JPMorgan

Lazard

Rothschild

UBS

Europe Digital Infrastructure Financial Adviser of the Year – Value

For M&A deals announced between Sep 1, 2021 and Aug 31, 2022 and over $50m deal value

See full criteria here.

(In alphabetical order)

Barclays

Goldman Sachs

Morgan Stanley

Perella Weinberg Partners

Europe Digital Infrastructure Legal Adviser of the Year – Volume

For M&A deals announced between Sep 1, 2021 and Aug 31, 2022 and over $50m deal value

See full criteria here.

(In alphabetical order)

Allen & Overy

Clifford Chance

Herbert Smith Freehills

Linklaters

Europe Digital Infrastructure Legal Adviser of the Year – Value

For M&A deals announced between Sep 1, 2021 and Aug 31, 2022 and over $50m deal value

See full criteria here.

(In alphabetical order)

Allen & Overy

Clifford Chance

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

Linklaters

Europe Technology Legal Adviser of the Year – Volume

For M&A deals announced between Sep 1, 2021 and Aug 31, 2022 and over $50m deal value

See full criteria here.

(In alphabetical order)

Allen & Overy

CMS

DLA Piper

Kirkland & Ellis

Latham & Watkins

Osborne Clarke

Europe Technology Legal Adviser of the Year – Value

For M&A deals announced between Sep 1, 2021 and Aug 31, 2022 and over $50m deal value

See full criteria here.

(In alphabetical order)

Allen & Overy

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton

DLA Piper

Latham & Watkins

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom

Slaughter & May

Europe Technology Financial Adviser of the Year – Volume

For M&A deals announced between Sep 1, 2021 and Aug 31, 2022 and over $50m deal value

See full criteria here.

(In alphabetical order)

Arma Partners

Goldman Sachs

Houlihan Lokey

JPMorgan

Raymond James

Rothschild

Europe Technology Financial Adviser of the Year – Value

For M&A deals announced between Sep 1, 2021 and Aug 31, 2022 and over $50m deal value

See full criteria here.

(In alphabetical order)

Barclays

Evercore

Goldman Sachs

JPMorgan

Morgan Stanley

Qatalyst Partners