Zayo Group continues to extend its fiber assets through acquisitions, announcing Monday it will purchase a long haul infrastructure provider operating a fiber network in the Midwest.
Zayo will scoop up “substantially all” assets of Neutral Path and North Near Partners for $31.5 million.
The deal will add 452 owned route miles, plus additional leased route miles, to Zayo’s North American network, including a high-count fiber route from Minneapolis to Omaha. Zayo said the assets are “highly complementary” to the company’s long haul dark fiber footprint in the Midwest.
The network architecture provides convenient options for both wirelines and wireless carrier backhaul to further broadband expansion in that area of the country, according to the company.
Zayo said the transaction will enable it to sell multi-city dark fiber and fiber-based lit solutions from Minneapolis into Omaha and reach Denver, Kansas City, Tulsa, Dallas, Des Moines, Chicago and other markets.
“This is another example of executing on our ‘tuck-in’ strategy, acquiring companies that add strategic assets that we can leverage immediately,” Jack Waters, CTO and president of Fiber Solutions at Zayo, said in a statement. “Based on expressed customer demand, we’re confident we will quickly be able to pursue the robust funnel of sales opportunities and grow the revenue base on these assets.”
Zayo has been on a recent buying spree, announcing last week that it purchased Optic Zoo Networks for $24.87 million. Optic Zoo owns and operates high-capacity fiber in Vancouver, and Zayo said the deal adds 103 route miles and more than 100 on-net buildings to the company’s footprint in the city.
In November, Zayo announced plans to acquire Spread Networks, which owns and operates a high fiber count long haul route connecting New York and Chicago, for $127 million.
The Neutral Path deal is expected to close in the second quarter of this year.
