GTCR and Mega Broadband Investments Announce Acquisition of Vyve Broadband

Acquisition Doubles MBI's Rural Footprint

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Jul 30, 2019, 07:20 ET

CHICAGO, July 30, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- GTCR, a leading private equity firm, announced today that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Vyve Broadband ("Vyve") from BBH Capital Partners ("BBHCP"). Founded in 2012, and operationally headquartered in Shawnee, OK, Vyve provides high-speed data, television and voice services to residential and business customers in rural markets across Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Georgia and Wyoming. The acquisition will be completed through GTCR's previously established management partnership with Mega Broadband Investments ("MBI") and comes less than a year after MBI's initial platform investment in Northland Communications ("Northland"). The addition of Vyve doubles MBI's footprint and accelerates its strategy of being a scale broadband provider in rural markets.

The add-on acquisition of Vyve in partnership with a two-time GTCR CEO is another example of the GTCR Leaders Strategy™ at work. GTCR first partnered with Mr. Spencer in 2012 to form Rural Broadband Investments ("RBI"). In October 2017, GTCR established MBI – a second management start-up with Mr. Spencer – to focus on acquiring rural broadband assets as part of a strategy to capitalize on the same trends that made RBI successful.

"The acquisition of Vyve is an exciting addition to MBI following our recent platform acquisition of Northland," said Mr. Spencer, CEO of MBI. "Vyve has developed an excellent network in attractive geographies and we look forward to leveraging Vyve's state-of-the-art infrastructure to continue to rollout enhanced high-speed data services to both our residential and commercial customers. Further, Vyve has an outstanding employee base, and we plan to build upon the excellent work they have done to date in efforts to continuously improve the quality of service to our customers."

"The Vyve acquisition is an exciting opportunity to continue to build our investment in the cable industry," said Phil Canfield, Managing Director at GTCR. "We look forward to continuing our work with Phil Spencer and his team to build a leading cable platform through increasing high-speed data penetration, growth in commercial services, and additional accretive acquisitions."

GTCR and MBI's investment in Vyve will be funded from GTCR Fund XII, a private equity fund raised in 2017 with $5.25 billion of limited partner capital commitments. Kirkland & Ellis LLP provided legal counsel, PricewaterhouseCoopers served as accounting advisor and Lazard Middle Market LLC acted as exclusive financial advisor to GTCR and MBI.

About GTCR

Founded in 1980, GTCR is a leading private equity firm focused on investing in growth companies in the Growth Business Services, Technology, Media & Telecommunications, Healthcare and Financial Services & Technology industries. The Chicago-based firm pioneered The Leaders Strategy™ - finding and partnering with management leaders in core domains to identify, acquire and build market-leading companies through transformational acquisitions and organic growth. Since its inception, GTCR has invested more than $15 billion in over 200 companies. For more information, please visit www.gtcr.com.

About Mega Broadband Investments

Mega Broadband Investments was formed in October 2017 as a partnership between Phil Spencer and GTCR. Mega Broadband Investments' mission is to build a leading broadband provider delivering high speed data, video and voice services to residential and commercial customers. For more information, please contact (312) 953-3305.

About Northland Communications

Northland Communications is a leading provider of communications services. Northland owns and operates smaller-market cable systems in Alabama, California, Georgia, Idaho, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Washington. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, Northland offers high-speed Internet, digital and high definition television, and voice services to individuals and businesses. For more information, please visit www.yournorthland.com.

About Vyve Broadband

Vyve Broadband was founded in 2012 and largely serves rural communities in eight states, including Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Georgia and Wyoming. Vyve offers an extensive range of broadband, fiber connectivity, cable television and voice services for commercial and residential customers. Residential services include high-speed Internet with services up to Vyve Gig, all-digital and high-definition video and digital voice services. Vyve Business Services provides optical Ethernet, PRI and hosted voice services to the business community.

Media Contact:
Eileen Rochford | +1 312-953-3305 | [email protected]

SOURCE GTCR