EXA Acquires Aqua Comms in Distressed Subsea Fiber Deal
EXA Acquires Aqua Comms in Distressed Subsea Fiber Deal
By James Blackman, RCR Wireless News
January 5, 2026
UK-based EXA Infrastructure has completed its long-running acquisition of Ireland-based subsea provider Aqua Comms for a knockdown price. The deal, agreed a year ago, strengthens its transatlantic and intra-European subsea connectivity, adding key cables to its 160,000-kilometre fibre network spanning 37 countries, while reflecting a rare distressed-asset opportunity in today’s telecoms market.
In sum – what to know:
Strategic expansion – EXA now controls Aqua Comms’ critical subsea assets, including America/Europe and Ireland/UK routes, plus participation in the Amitié cable system.
Distressed sale – The £44m deal leverages DGI9’s fire-sale situation, drawing comparisons with fibre deals from the dot-com crash – where telco infra was acquired at extreme value.
M&A strategy – The deal was completed following EXA’s €1.3bn refinancing, which follows a string of acquisitions in Europe and the Balkans, and tees it up for further M&A activity.
Digital infrastructure company EXA Infrastructure has completed its drawn-out acquisition of Ireland-based subsea connectivity provider Aqua Comms for a knockdown fee. Its previous owner, UK-based infrastructure fund Digital 9 Infrastructure (DGI9), called the transaction fee, agreed a year ago, as “extremely disappointing”. But it strengthens EXA Infrastructure’s transatlantic and intra-European subsea network, already stretching to 160,000 kilometres of fibre-optic cable across 37 countries.
It also extends the London firm’s consolidation of the fibre provider sector – about-mapped to an annual splurge, likely now accelerating following a €1.3 billion refinancing in October – after deals for Serbian dark fibre and colocation provider Conexio (announced October 2025), Bulgarian fibre operator GCN (announced September 2024), and Croatian duct and fibre firm Unitel (completed June 2023). Collectively, these deals have, or will, strengthen EXA Infrastructure’s terrestrial fibre assets across southeastern Europe and the Balkans.
Its October refinancing is to drive its merger-and-acquisition (M&A) activity. The deal for submarine cable specialist Aqua Comms was signed a year ago (January 2025), and finally completed at the tail-end of December. Between times, the purchase price has reportedly shifted upwards marginally from about “$48 million (around £40 million)” to £44 million ($59 million, at current exchange rates). But it still looks like a steal, taking advantage of DGI9’s fire-sale in early 2025 to wind down its operations.
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