Summit sells stake in Sipartech to Blackstone

Blackstone’s Tactical Opportunities orchestrated the investment. The firm is currently fundraising for its Blackstone Tactical Opportunities Fund III vehicle, which as of June this year had raised just under $4.1bn, more than double the fund’s target of $2bn. The fund hasn’t held a final close yet. 

Summit Partners was fundraising for its Summit Partners Growth Equity IX when it invested in Sipartech in 2016. The vehicle was launched in 2015 and closed two years later on $3.3bn. 

Blackstone and Summit were unavailable for comment at the time of publication. 

Previous funding
Xavier Niel, through investment vehicle NJJ Capital, invested €1.5m in French fibre optics specialist Sipartech in 2010.

Two years later, Ciclad and NJJ jointly invested €10m in the second fundraising for the business, which would use the proceeds to develop internationally.

Summit Partners then acquired a minority stake in Sipartech from Ciclad Gestion in 2016, replacing NJJ and Ciclad in the capital structure.

Company
Headquartered in Paris and founded in 2008, Sipartech is a provider of B2B and wholesale dark fiber services and other telecom services. The business owns and operates over 3,000km of fiber across France and is headquartered in Paris. 

People
Blackstone - Jasvinder Khaira (senior managing director); Thomas Senecal (Blackstone Tactical Opportunities).
Sipartech - Julien Santina (CEO).
Summit Partners - Christian Strain (managing director).

Advisers
Equity - Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (legal).
Company - Lazard (corporate finance); Paul Hastings (legal).
Vendor - Latham & Watkins (legal).

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• Topics
• Expansion
• France
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• France
• Blackstone Group
• Summit Partners