Zayo Plots Follow-On Stock Offering

Zayo has filed an S-1 with the SEC that looks at offering some more stock to the markets in a follow-on offering to its October IPO.  

The motivation isn’t hard to figure out.  Both Zayo itself and its investors would have preferred a bigger IPO at the time, but overall market conditions went south and they had to scale back a bit.  But the IPO was nevertheless a success, and now that the markets are a bit more emotionally stable it may be a good time to finish the job.

No details were available on how much or when of course, they’ll be testing the waters first and looking to optimize the offering.  Any cash raised, at least from the part not sold directly by their private equity backers. is earmarked for the familiar bucket of ‘general corporate expenses’, which means pretty much anything.

That being said, Zayo will probably be ready for another acquisition soon and any cash raised from this follow-on offering will surely be a part of it.  This spring, their European foray with Geo and Neo will turn one year old — ready for some new action.  Additionally, despite all the consolidation there is still fiber for sale in the US.  Earthlink is looking for buyers for its dark fiber, and it’s looking more and more to me like FiberLight’s owners may be ready to cash out given the recent management shakeup there.

 

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Categories: Financials · Metro fiber