Lightyear Goes Public, Plans M&A

Lightyear snuck under my radar went public on Friday, following a reverse merger with Libra Alliance – a former ISP whose shell continued to trade OTC under the ticker LBAL.  As a part of the transaction, Lightyear’s debt to its owners was exchanged for a combination of common and preferred stock in the new public entity.  So suddenly we have a new public telecom company to keep track of.  Lightyear’s revenue for the first three quarters of 2009 was $44M, which puts them at an annual run rate in the $60M range.  Their plan apparently involves substantial inorganic growth, and going public is probably a means to increase their access to the capital for such an expansion.

According to Phone+, CEO J. Sherman Henderson is looking to acquire as many as 6-9 companies in the $20-80M range and eventually achieve scale an order of magnitude higher than they are now.  They will be looking for acquisition targets who serve the SME with both voice and data products.  Basically, they’re looking to roll up a bit of the fiber-free CLEC market.  Of course, having plans doesn’t mean the future will cooperate, but Lightyear has always been an aggressive player and I don’t doubt their intentions.

But we don’t yet know much about their financials, I will be curious to read their filings when the time comes.

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Categories: CLEC · Mergers and Acquisitions