Antin Infrastructure Partners (AIP) has secured a majority stake in fiber broadband provider OpticalTel.

The investment in Florida-based OpticalTel is AIP's sixth investment through its mid-cap fund.

This fund is based in Paris, France, and focuses on investments in Europe and North America, with $2.6 billion put aside for its mid-cap fund.

It's not known how much AIP has invested in OpticalTel, but the transaction is expected to close in early 2023 pending regulatory approvals, according to the private equity company.

Founded in 2004 by Mario Bustamante, OpticalTel is a regional fiber broadband provider serving communities in South and Central Florida. The company provides a wide range of products and services, including high-speed Internet, cloud-based video, and digital telephony services.

Bustamante will retain an ownership stake in OpticalTel, and remain on the board of directors, while CEO and President Luis Rodriguez will continue to lead the company.

"We see this partnership with the OpticalTel team as an immense growth opportunity," said Kevin Genieser, Senior Partner at Antin. "Fiber is at the core of modern infrastructure, providing mission-critical, low-latency bandwidth services to a customer base that has increasing demand for data. We believe OpticalTel is very well-positioned to meet this need in the fast-growing Florida market."

Lazard and RBC Capital Markets served as financial advisors to OpticalTel while Latham & Watkins served as legal advisors. TD Securities served as financial advisor to Antin while Greenberg Traurig served as legal advisor.

Meanwhile, Citizens (administrative agent), CIT (a division of First Citizens Bank), and TD Securities acted as lead arrangers on the debt financing.

Last year AIP acquired UK data center firm Pulsant, while the company also has investments in fiber firms such as CityFibre in the UK, Lyntia in Spain, Eurofiber in the Netherlands and Belgium, and FirstLight Fiber in the US.