Stratus to Join Forces With Novacap to Further Accelerate Growth
MONTREAL, Oct. 21, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Novacap, a leading North American private equity firm, announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Stratus Networks ("Stratus"). The transaction is expected to close in the last quarter of 2021, following the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including required regulatory approvals. Headquartered in Peoria, Illinois, Stratus is a leading provider of fiber-optic bandwidth infrastructure services. Founded by Co-CEOs John Petrakis and Kevin Morgan in 1998, Stratus has grown to become a leading data and voice networking services provider for enterprises with a full suite of products including data, cloud and voice solutions. John Petrakis and Kevin Morgan will continue in their roles as Co-CEOs leading Stratus and remain significant shareholders in the business.
"The investment in Stratus continues Novacap's deep experience of successfully partnering with strong founders and entrepreneurs to support long-term growth in the fiber industry» said Pascal Tremblay, President and CEO, Managing Partner at Novacap.
"The accelerated digitization of our economy is driving the demand for robust digital infrastructure services to feed the digital value chain. The transaction will enable Stratus to expand its presence in growing market segments and larger geographic areas to meet the increased demand for connectivity," commented Ted Mocarski, Senior Partner at Novacap. "We look forward to applying Novacap's strategic, operational and financial expertise to propel Stratus' growth."
"We are excited to partner with Novacap and take advantage of their substantial experience as a successful investor in regional fiber-optic providers such as Horizon Telecom, FirstLight Fiber and Fibrenoire," said Kevin Morgan, Co-CEO and Co-founder of Stratus. "We are delighted to have a partner who will be able to provide the resources necessary, and share our vision, of being the premier provider of internet and voice services in our region. Novacap has already begun sharing ideas about ways to invest in our business to aggressively pursue the significant growth opportunities available to us," added John Petrakis, Co-CEO and Co-founder of Stratus.
Advisors
Houlihan Lokey served as the exclusive financial advisor to Stratus. Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP served as legal counsel to Stratus.
Paul Hastings LLP served as legal counsel to Novacap.
About Novacap
Founded in 1981, Novacap is a leading North American private equity firm with over C$8B of AUM that has invested in more than 100 platform companies and completed more than 150 add-on acquisitions. Applying its sector-focused approach since 2007 in TMT, Industries, Digital Infrastructure and now Financial Services, Novacap's deep domain expertise can accelerate company growth and create long-term value. With experienced, dedicated investment and operations teams as well as substantial capital, Novacap has the resources and knowledge that help build world-class businesses. Novacap has offices in Brossard, Québec and Toronto, Ontario. For more information, please visit www.novacap.ca.
About Stratus Networks
Founded in 1998, Stratus has grown to become a leading data and voice network services provider for enterprises across Central Illinois. Since inception, Stratus has invested in and built superior network, product offering, ancillary services, partnerships and proprietary operational systems in order to deliver the best available service to its customers. The Company owns, leases and operates a large fiber network to deliver a full suite of solutions including data, cloud and voice solutions to reach significant scale in order to serve nearly 1,000 highly diversified enterprise customers primarily across the financial services, healthcare, telecom industries. For more information about Stratus, visit www.stratusnet.com.
SOURCE Novacap Management Inc.
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