Update on Colt’s proposed acquisition of Lumen EMEA

You will probably recall that on 2 November 2022 we announced that we had reached an agreement to acquire Lumen’s Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) business pending regulatory approvals. This includes Lumen Technologies’ EMEA terrestrial and subsea networks, data centers, employees, customer contracts, and network equipment in the region.

Now a few months have passed, and we would like to update you on where we are in the process and what impact it has on you.

Firstly, let us assure you that keeping our current service working just the way our customers want is our single highest priority.  We remain laser-focused on, and will continue to invest in, our current infrastructure, people, and customer experience with the same intensity regardless of the proposed transaction.

It is important to note that Colt and Lumen EMEA remain separate competitive businesses until such time as the transaction closes and both organisations will act accordingly. We want to ensure that we can bring the two businesses together without disruption to our customer service.

A key part of this proposed acquisition is making sure that we have the correct legal and regulatory approvals in place, and this process is progressing well. At this stage, we believe that it is possible that regulatory approval includes merger control and competition law clearances could complete in late 2023.

Once the transaction completes, our customers will stand to benefit from; deeper and wider metropolitan, domestic, and international fibre connectivity. A leading-edge transatlantic capability connecting North America to the UK and France, and a wider range of solutions, including, managed hosting and cloud, traditional networking, SD WAN, a richer voice portfolio, and a strong security proposition. We are working through how exactly we can bring these benefits to you, our customers and will share more information with you as soon as we can.

We are also looking into the areas that you, have asked us to keep high on our agenda. It is too early to discuss specific details about network diversity, resilience, specific products, or contract consolidation. However, we can assure you that these topics are uppermost in our minds as we think through the implications of the proposed acquisition.

We are committed to sharing more information with you as we progress and will share progress throughout the process but for now, nothing changes.

Of course, if you have any questions or comments about the proposed acquisition – or any other topic – please do not hesitate to get in touch with your Colt Account Executive.