Oak Hill Capital has committed $150 million in primary capital to Lit Communities, a company that uses public-private partnerships to bring fiber networks to unserved and underserved communities.
Lit, which was founded in Birmingham, AL in 2019, has projects in place, under construction or planned in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas. It currently serves about 20,000 homes and businesses. The investment is expected to help Lit reach more than 200,000 homes “during the next few years.”
“This is a pivotal point for our company,” Lit Chief Financial Officer Andrew Massey said in a press release. “We’ve spent years developing an expertise in collaboratively working with local governments and municipalities to determine where and how to efficiently build networks. The Oak Hill investment provides us the capital and expertise to accelerate our plans of providing ultra-fast, reliable, and affordable broadband service in the communities we partner with and serve.”
Current investors Stephens Capital Partners, The Pritzker Organization and the Lit management team will continue to be shareholders and provide support going forward, Lit says.
Oak Hill Capital is deeply involved in the telecommunications sector.
Last July, Oak Hill Capital committed $250 million to the formation of Omni Fiber. The company’s mandate is to bring 2 Gbps symmetrical FTTH service to small and mid-sized communities. Two of the three states it targets – Ohio and Pennsylvania – are the same as Lit. Omni also plans to serve Michigan.
Oak Hill Capital had a stake in both MetroNet and Vexus Fiber, two companies that merged last July.
In November 2020, Race Communications, an FTTP provider serving residences and businesses in California, and Oak Hill Capital entered into an agreement to form a partnership aimed at accelerating the service provider’s expansion in the region. The deal was expected to close by early 2021.
