Rautenberg & Company advises IST Investment Foundation on the investment in Westconnect GmbH.

Our team advised IST Investment Foundation (“IST”) on the investment in Westconnect GmbH (“Westconnect”). The signing of the transaction took place on April 28, with a subsequent closing on May 16, 2023.

IST Investment Foundation enters the investment through its discretionary private infrastructure equity vehicle, IST3 Infrastruktur Global (IST3 IG), which is funded exclusively by Swiss pension funds and has an unlimited lifetime. IST3 IG is part of the IST platform, which was founded in 1967 and manages around CHF 10bn in capital out of Zurich and Lausanne for approx. 500 Swiss pension funds, providing transparent, cost efficient and best in class traditional and alternative investment management services.

Westconnect GmbH was established in 2022 as a joint venture between E.ON SE and Igneo Infrastructure Partners for the roll-out of high-speed broadband infrastructure in Germany. Focusing on suburban and rural areas, Westconnect has already laid more than 10,000 km of fibre-optic cable in North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Lower Saxony. More than one million people in over 300 municipalities benefit from Westconnect’s secure fibre infrastructure today.

Our team advised IST throughout the acquisition process, in particular with the preparation of an integrated Commercial and Technical Due Diligence.