The Colt Technology Services (Colt) has announced that Lumen Technologies and Colt have entered into an arrangement for the proposed sale of Lumen’s Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) business to Colt for US$1.8 billion. 

The transaction includes the divestiture by Lumen of its EMEA business, namely its terrestrial and subsea networks, data centers and network equipment in the region to London-headquartered Colt. The benefits of the acquisition for Lumen lie in supporting the company's strong balance sheet by stimulating investments with additional capital and a streamlined portfolio and serving multinational enterprise customers. Colt's network expansion to other countries, access to a full range of customer product solutions and the ability to meet growing enterprise and international IP traffic in EMEA are benefits to Colt.

Lumen’s business purchase price represents a strong ~11x multiple of the EMEA business’s estimated 2021 adjusted EBITDA. The deal is expected to close at the end of 2023.