Zayo announced Monday it’s purchasing Neutral Path and North Near Partners, which will add unique high-count fiber routes in the Midwest to the company’s network.
The $31.5 million purchase extends Zayo’s North American network by 452 owned route miles plus additional leased route miles, including a high-count fiber route from Minneapolis to Omaha. Zayo called the assets “highly complementary” to the company’s Midwestern long haul dark fiber footprint.
The transaction will allow Zayo to sell multi-city dark fiber and fiber-based lit solutions from Minneapolis to Omaha and reach Denver, Kansas City, Tulsa, Dallas, Des Moines, Chicago and other markets, the company said.
It will also enable further broadband expansion in the region since the network was designed to deliver options for both wireline and wireless carrier backhaul from the cities along the route, according to Zayo.
“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.”
The deal is the latest in a string of recent acquisitions for Zayo. Last week, the company announced it bought Vancouver-based Optic Zoo Networks for $24.87 million. Optic Zoo owns and operates high-capacity fiber in Vancouver, and Zayo said that deal would add 103 route miles and more than 100 on-net buildings to the company’s Vancouver footprint.
Last November, Zayo inked a deal 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 2018.