Colt completes $1.8bn acquisition of Lumen EMEA

Colt Technology Services has completed the acquisition of Lumen EMEA for $1.8bn. The closure of the transaction is the final stage in Colt’s exclusive agreement with Lumen Technologies, Inc. to purchase Lumen’s Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) business. The transaction marks a pivotal point for Colt and brings renewed optimism to the European telecoms industry, providing greater choice and expansive global capabilities to enterprises investing in powerful, sustainable digital infrastructure as the driving force behind their organisations. It elevates Colt to one of the world’s largest business-to-business-only telecoms companies and an influential global player. Keri Gilder will remain as Colt’s CEO, supported by a skilled, diverse executive leadership team.

As part of the acquisition, Colt and Lumen Technologies, Inc. will enter into a partnership agreement which sees businesses in North America benefit from access to Colt’s award-winning digital infrastructure and services within and outside of North America.

Keri Gilder, CEO, Colt Technology Services said, “Closing this acquisition brings us to a momentous point in our growth journey and marks our deep commitment to our customers, helping them scale and grow. It brings us amazing new talent; extends our technology portfolio and our partner ecosystem; and significantly expands our digital infrastructure as we enter new markets across Eastern Europe, the UAE and parts of Africa.”

She continues, “Our industry is on the cusp of groundbreaking transformation; it must deliver a digital roadmap for a hyperconnected global society in a responsible, fair and equitable way. As a pioneer for sustainable networks, the acquisition makes Colt one of the most powerful voices in the industry. It gives us the opportunity to lead the industry in driving purposeful, meaningful change to protect our people and our planet.”

“Colt has always been relentless about delivering brilliant experiences to business customers," said Camille Mendler of Omdia. "That mission has now gained wider global scale at a critical time. Enterprises worldwide need steadfast partners to navigate profound changes in digital consumption including network-as-a-service, zero-trust security and hybrid cloud computing."

Customers will benefit from Colt’s existing suite of award-winning technologies featuring On Demand and SD WAN alongside an extended portfolio of new services including new security technologies; market-leading SASE products; managed hosting and professional services, as well as:

1,300 new customer-focused employees across 16 countries

1,630,031 kilometres of fibre connecting 125 European cities in 34 EMEA countries

11,000 kilometres of metropolitan network in 23 countries and the UAE

12 cable landing stations in six countries

10 subsea cable systems – six transatlantic and four within Europe

The acquisition – which brings Colt 2,700 customers including blue chip corporations, leading enterprises and public sector customers - sees Colt expand the reach of its services via PoPs (Points of Presence) in Dubai, Estonia, Greece, Iceland, Israel, Kenya, Serbia, Slovenia, South Africa and Turkey.

The acquisition closes as Colt’s latest brand research highlights businesses’ plans to extend their digital infrastructure outside their existing markets. Questioning 1,100 senior IT decision makers across APAC, Europe and the US, Colt found 44% planned to extend their digital infrastructure to Europe and 40% to APAC. More than one in three (35%) plan to extend it to the Americas; 29% to the Middle East; and almost one in four (24%) plan to expand their network to Africa.

Keri stated, “Technology companies that will thrive in the future will be those with scale, adaptability and a strong sense of purpose. We’ve worked hard to build these capabilities. By staying true to our culture and commitments and building our business around our customers’ success, we’re ready to write the next chapter in our story.”