McDermott Will & Schulte advised one of the affiliates of H.I.G. Capital (“H.I.G.”) on its sale of Xtera Limited (including members of its group, “Xtera” or the “Company”) to a joint venture led by Prysmian S.p.A. and Fincantieri S.p.A. The sale remains subject to regulatory approvals, and completion of the transaction is expected to occur in the first quarter of 2026.

Headquartered in London, UK, Xtera is a leading provider of subsea telecom networks. The company operates in a market which is experiencing rapid growth, driven by global demand for bandwidth, the need for enhanced global connectivity and redundancy, and the rapid development of data centre traffic. Xtera’s focus on innovation and its track record of project delivery to its clients, including the U.S. Department of Defense and blue-chip telecom operators, position it as a trusted provider of turnkey systems.

H.I.G. established Xtera in 2017 through the acquisition of substantially all of the assets of Xtera Communications, Inc. During H.I.G.’s ownership, the Company has delivered multiple turnkey projects, including the NO-UK submarine cable system, which achieved record-breaking capacity, and the TAM-1 system, which is expected to complete in 2026 and will span more than 7,000 km, linking Florida with Central America and the Caribbean.

The transaction involved teams across London and New York, showcasing McDermott’s ability to deliver seamless support on complex, multi-jurisdictional deals.

The McDermott team was led by London Private Equity partner Fatema Orjela, together with London Private Equity associates Tom Johnson, Arjun Sehgal and Raees Khan, and included, amongst others, London Tax partner Alex Jupp and New York Employee Benefits partner Kate Coverdale.

H.I.G. is a leading global alternative investment firm with $72 billion of capital under management.* Based in Miami, and with offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Stamford in the United States, as well as international affiliate offices in Hamburg, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Milan, Paris, Bogotá, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Dubai and Hong Kong, H.I.G. specializes in providing both debt and equity capital to middle market companies, utilizing a flexible and operationally focused/value-added approach:

• H.I.G.’s equity funds invest in management buyouts, recapitalizations and corporate carve-outs of both profitable as well as underperforming manufacturing and service businesses.

• H.I.G.’s debt funds invest in senior, unitranche and junior debt financing to companies across the size spectrum, both on a primary (direct origination) basis as well as in the secondary markets. H.I.G. also manages a publicly traded BDC, WhiteHorse Finance.

• H.I.G.’s real estate funds invest in value-added properties, which can benefit from improved asset management practices.

• H.I.G. Infrastructure focuses on making value-add and core plus investments in the infrastructure sector.

Since its founding in 1993, H.I.G. has invested in and managed more than 400 companies worldwide. The Firm’s current portfolio includes more than 100 companies with combined sales in excess of $53 billion. For more information, please refer to the H.I.G. website at hig.com.
*Based on total capital raised by H.I.G. Capital and its affiliates.

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