Banking group provides financing for the largest wholesale-only HFC and fibre operator in Poland

Total debt facilities of PLN 5.1 billion (~ EUR 1.1 billion) were arranged and underwritten by an international consortium of banks for Polski Światłowód Otwarty sp. z o.o. (“PŚO”) – a fibre joint venture between Play, a leading mobile, fixed and digital television convergent player in Poland, and a 100% subsidiary of Iliad Group, and InfraVia, a leading independent European private equity firm specialized in infrastructure and technology investments.

The total debt financing of PLN 5.1 billion (~ EUR 1.1 billion) was provided by an underwriting group consisting of BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Banking, Credit Agricole Bank Polska S.A., KfW IPEX-Bank, Santander Bank Polska S.A. (acting as facility and security agent), Société Générale and EIB as an anchor investor. Via primary syndication an amount of PLN 1.4 billion (~ EUR 300 million) has been placed with Polish banks including BGK – Polish development bank, Bank Pekao S.A. and PKO Bank Polski S.A.

The joint venture's goal is to upgrade and convert PŚO’s existing coax network into a fibre and complement the latter by further greenfield expansion to achieve an overall fibre-to-the home (FTTH) network coverage of over 6 million households in Poland. The network will be available to all telecommunication operators on a wholesale, non-discriminatory and open-access basis.