Private equity does seem to be serious about fiber, doesn’t it. Today, it was Ridgemont Equity Partners purchasing a majority stake in Unite Private Networks (UPN), which provides turnkey fiber networks across 12 states mostly in the midwest. Kansas city-based UPN is a new one for me, I simply haven’t run into them before. They seem to focus on building networks for school districts across their footprint. The investment will help ensure that UPN has the capital for expansion, and existing management will remain in place. Financial terms were not disclosed.
This is not Ridgemont’s first foray into the metro and regional fiber space. They were investors in no less than two of the recent metro fiber companies that have been purchased this year: Veroxity and Fibertech. They are also apparently still invested in Cavalier, and therefore have a stake in Intellifiber as well. Whatever Ridgemont is up to, it isn’t a fiber roll-up. They seem to simply prefer their metro fiber at an early stage in development.
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Categories: Mergers and Acquisitions · Metro fiber
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what makes you think this isnt a roll up??
I supposed it’s because they’ve sold two and bought one, so they’re rolling in the other direction. But one never can tell, they certainly might have other plans…