CVC’s infrastructure arm has entered exclusive negotiations to acquire a significant majority stake in French B2B digital infrastructure operator Celeste.

In an announcement this week, CVC DIF confirmed it’s in talks to snap up an 88 percent stake in Celeste from Infravia. 

Founded in 2001, Paris-based Celeste provides end-to-end digital infrastructure solutions to companies and public-sector organizations across connectivity, hosting and cloud, and cybersecurity services.

The company serves more than 20,000 businesses and 3,000 municipalities in France and Switzerland, via its fully owned and operated infrastructure platform comprising 13,600km of proprietary fiber network and six data centers.

CVC DIF noted that it has agreed to acquire the stake via its DIF Value-Add IV fund. Financial terms were not disclosed.

As part of the planned acquisition, Nicolas Aubé, founder and CEO of Celeste, and the management team will reinvest their proceeds into a significant minority stake, ensuring strong alignment with CVC DIF.

Infravia Capital Partners will fully exit its investment following the completion of the transaction, confirmed CVC DIF.

The company added that once the transaction is finalized, it will help Celeste to “expand its cloud and cybersecurity activities, while continuing to strengthen and densify its infrastructure network.”

“Our investment in Celeste underlines our expertise and focus on resilient digital infrastructure, which provides companies with critical services. Celeste’s solid proprietary network, integrated resilient model, and best-in-class quality of services give the company a highly attractive competitive positioning,” said Willem Jansonius, a managing partner at CVC DIF and head of DIF value-add strategy.

Aubé added: “We look forward to the next chapter of our growth journey with CVC DIF. CVC DIF is a highly experienced infrastructure investor with a deep understanding of the fiber and cloud sectors. Their support will enable Celeste to pursue its expansion, accelerate market consolidation, and continue to deliver secured, resilient, and high-performance digital infrastructure services to our clients.”

Pending approval, CVC DIF said it expects the deal to complete during the first quarter of this year.

CVC DIF is advised by Oddo BHF (financial advisor), De Pardieu (legal advisor), 8 Advisory (finance and tax advisor), Phora Capital (commercial advisor), Tactis (technical advisor), and Aon (insurance advisor).

Founded in 2005, Netherlands-based CVC DIF (formerly DIF Capital Partners) has €18 billion ($20.9bn) of infrastructure assets under management in energy transition, transport, utilities, and digitalization. The company also owns Tonaquint in the US, and several fiber firms.