Zayo Group, a Louisville, Colorado-based provider of connectivity and colocation services, has entered into an agreement to buy the second half of USCarrier, a regional provider of connectivity services in the US southeast, the first half of which it has owned since 2010.
The US$13.5m deal (expected to close in the fourth quarter) gives Zayo full control of USCarrier’s 3,700-mile fiber network, connecting major southeastern markets, including Atlanta, Jacksonville, Talahassee, Nashville and Chattanooga and about 40 smaller cities throughout the region.
Glenn Russo, executive VP for corporate strategy and development at Zayo, said USCarrier’s transport services fit well with Zayo’s core high-bandwidth services. “Extending the reach of Zayo’s network with USCarrier’s footprint allows us to offer broader solutions to our customers as well as deliver end-to-end national and international connectivity to these markets,” he said.
Zayo became the owner of the first half of Atlanta-based USCarrier in June 2010, when it bought the stock’s previous owner American Fiber Systems (AFS). Following the AFS deal, USCarrier’s board of directors disputed the transfer of ownership, kicking off a two year fight, according to a report by Telecom Ramblings.
AFS made its investment in USCarrier in 2006.
Zayo has been expanding its network and data center portfolio aggressively through acquisition over the past several years.
Just in July, it closed its acquisition of network-services provider AboveNet for $2.2bn. December 2011, it closed a $345m acquisition of 360networks.
In March 2010, the company bought AGL Networks, the connectivity business of Atlanta energy-services company AGL Resources. In 2009, Zayo bought FiberNet, adding both network and data center assets on US east and west coasts, as well as Chicago and Miami.