GFiber is joining forces with Astound Broadband to form a new company majority-owned by investment firm Stonespeak. Alphabet — the parent company of Google — will remain a significant minority shareholder.
The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter as long as customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals are received.
The GFiber executive team will lead the new business, which expects to build on the combination of GFiber’s high-growth metropolitan networks and Astound’s established infrastructure, team and capabilities.
In the press release announcing the deal, GFiber said the transaction “advances GFiber’s mission of redefining internet connectivity and represents a major step toward its goal of operational and financial independence.”
The press release said the deal with Astound provides GFiber with the external capital and strategic focus needed to accelerate its growth.
“GFiber has always been about pushing the boundaries of what’s possible for internet speed and service,” Dinni Jain, GFiber CEO, said in a prepared statement.
“This partnership with Astound and Stonepeak is the next step in our decade-long mission to redefine what customers can expect from their internet provider. It’s a strategic opportunity to scale our customer-focused approach to connect more households to a truly different type of internet service.”
“We are excited to be working with GFiber and Alphabet on this transaction,” Andrew Thomas, Stonespeak senior managing director, added in a prepared statement.
“This partnership will be transformational for the businesses, with GFiber and Astound’s complementary networks and extraordinary teams enabling the combined company to better serve millions of customers and the demand for a next generation network and ubiquitous connectivity.”
The combination with Astound builds on GFiber’s recent announcement that it was boosting speeds without increasing what it charges customers. GFiber planned to roll out the new, higher speeds in Des Moines, Iowa first, but the company’s announcement suggested they were planning to roll out the speeds to all markets.
