Beyond COVID-19: How M&A is driving change in telecom, digital infrastructure and cloud services

Finance heads, investment bankers and investors assess evolving trends in global debt and equity markets.

• Acquisition, LBO and capex financing – how are pricing and conditions changing?
• Scaling up – how can high growth and mid-cap companies increase access to capital?
• How has the growth of infrastructure funds changed the market?
• Greenfield investments – in what ways can investors mitigate construction risk?
• Regulatory risk – where are the challenges and opportunities?
• Equity Capital Markets – what’s the 2020/21 outlook?

• How is investment appetite for small cells changing? Where are the opportunities?
• Are current financing models for densification sufficient for a national 5G program?
• How would the financing of small cells differ from traditional investment in macro cells?
• What plans are there to improve cooperation with municipalities and real estate owners?

Cloud communications have changed how enterprises collaborate internally and interact with their customers. As firms migrate away from traditional telephony and email, how is the communications industry reacting to this change? What investments are necessary to take advantage?
• Assessing the market: emerging developments in cloud comms M&A and financing
• How is the UCaaS market changing?
• Growth and investment – which subsectors have the greatest potential?
• How is the relationship between cloud cos and the providers changing?
• What are the prospects for consolidation in the market?

Hosting and datacenter leaders, investors and advisers discuss investment, growth and consolidation strategies.

• Why are we seeing a sustained increased in interest in datacenter assets?
• How are business models changing? Where are the next investment opportunities globally?
• Are the current datacenter valuations justifiable and maintainable?
• Hyperscalers: how are hyperscalers affecting market dynamics, and where are the opportunities for partnerships?
• How will the growth of edge computing drive consolidation of smaller datacentres?

• Wireless towerco developments in the US – what’s new?
• Why have there been an influx in investor interest in tower assets domestically and internationally?
• Who are the main buyers and sellers? Will they continue to dominate the space in a few years’ time? What does this say about the sector?
• Next generation networks and services – assessing ownership options
• How will a convergence of towers, small cells, datacenters and fiber change the profile of the towerco as we know it?

5G’s low latency, high speed and massive device connectivity will be a key enabler of the Internet of Things and smart infrastructure. Industry leaders and investors from the communications and technology sectors discuss strategies for fully participating in these revolutions.

• The 5G Ecosystem – which are the firms are best placed to capitalise on 5G-enabling technology?
• Which other revenues stream could be developed in the consumer IoT space?
• How well placed are telcos to be major players in commercial and industrial IoT?
• Where will the most disruptive IoT technologies come from?
• What are the valuations, trends and future predictions for the sector?

• How are developments in comms infrastructure impacting M&A and investment opportunities?
• Who are the buyers in TMT? How are growth strategies changing?
• How is access to financing changing? How is that affecting deal flow?
• Telco growth strategies – which subsectors are telcos targeting for inorganic growth and why?
• How sustainable is the current wave in comms infrastructure investment? What is next: peaks or troughs?

• Who is leading investment in edge computing? Who are the micro-datacenter leaders?
• What is driving valuations in the edge computing space?
• Who will own computing power at tower sites? How might that affect transactions?
• How is edge computing changing the face of the TMT industry? What verticals will be the most disrupted?
• What impact is edge computing having on datacenter investments?

• How much growth potential is there to UCaaS businesses and who is best place to capture it?
• How are traditional US-focused UCaaS players transforming their businesses to cater to new geographies?
• What impact will infrastructure funds and hyperscalers have on the UCaaS consolidation market?
• Where are the main UCaaS M&A opportunities uncovered?
• How will UCaaS companies change the face of traditional telecom operators?

• Why are we seeing a sustained increased in interest in telecoms infrastructure as an asset class?
• Outbound US M&A: How is appetite changing for US outbound investment internationally? Which regions and subsectors offer the most opportunity?
• What impact is regulation having on cross border M&A?
• What are the challenges of cross-border transactions and how are buyers and sellers navigating these challenges?

• Build vs Buy – where are the opportunities in the US and beyond?
• Who is leading investment and consolidating the market? How is this changing?
• M&A and Financing – how is the cost of capital and appetite for investment shifting, and where are the opportunities for private equity and infrastructure funds?
• Rural connectivity – what are the long-term prospects for returns, and where are the opportunities?

• How are business models and revenue streams developing for companies active in emerging technologies?
• What kind of public and private partnerships and growth opportunities are available?
• How is AI and machine learning impacting more traditional segments within the TMT sector?
• What opportunities are there in areas such as Big Data in terms of investment and partnerships?
• Which emerging tech companies are most attractive from an investment perspective?
• Who are the key players and what are the most exciting trends for 2020/ 2021?