Melita’s owners have sold the company to an investment firm, just one and half years after a merger with Vodafone fell through. 

Apax Partners and Fortino Capita sold the telecommunications company to EQT, a leading investment firm, for an undisclosed sum.

EQT has more than €61 billion in raised capital across 29 funds and around €40 billion in assets under management.

EQT funds have portfolio companies in Europe, Asia and the US with total sales of more than €19 billion and approximately 110,000 employees.

The company said it plans to upgrade Melita’s fixed and mobile networks and open an additional data centre location on Malta. It will also support Melita’s internationalisation strategy including its expansion in Italy as well as its innovative Internet of Things connectivity proposition.

Melita was founded in 1992 by the Gasan Group, which sold it in 2015. It will continue to operate under the leadership of CEO Harald Rösch, who has held the position since April 2016 and who is a “longstanding industrial advisor to EQT”.

A spokesman for EQT said the company invests in “good companies across the globe with the aim of turning them not only into great companies but also sustainable ones”.

The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals.