GI Partners has agreed to purchase Vast Broadband from Pamlico Capital and Oak Hill Capital for an undisclosed amount. Vast Broadband provides high-speed broadband, video, and voice services to over 60,000 residential and business customers in South Dakota and Minnesota.
“Vast is committed to providing its customers with access to the most reliable, high-speed broadband connectivity available,” said Rich Fish, who will become CEO of Vast Broadband. “As a native of the Great Plains, I am thrilled to partner with the local employees at Vast to bring high quality internet connectivity to my home region.”
GI Partners will make the investment from its recently completed GI Data Infrastructure Fund, which closed in September with $1.8 billion in commitments from a broad group of investors. The GI Data Infrastructure Fund is investing in four data infrastructure subsectors: data centers, data transport, wireless access and tech-enabled infrastructure.
“We are very pleased to have reached an agreement with Rich Fish and the GI Partners team. We have had tremendous success during our tenure and we are delighted that our team in South Dakota and Minnesota will have the opportunity to continue to grow in the communities we serve,” said Jim Gleason, outgoing CEO of Vast Broadband, in a prepared statement about the GI Partners Vast Broadband deal.
The GI Partners Vast Broadband deal illustrates the hot M&A market for broadband access providers. Just in the past 30 days, three similar deals have been announced, including:
- SDC Capital Partners LLC purchasing a 48% stake in ALLO Communications, LLC for $197 million
- Cable One buying a 45% stake in Mega Broadband Investments Holdings LLC (MBI) from GTCR LLC for $574.1 million in cash
- Wren House Infrastructure Management Limited acquired residential and commercial provider i3 Broadband
The GI Partners Vast Broadband announcement didn’t provide an expected closing date for the deal, only saying “the transaction is expected to close following satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.”
