Consolidated Communications Enterprise Services, Inc. says it has agreed to sell its Kansas City assets to funds managed by Alinda Capital Partners. The company declined to reveal how much money it will receive via the all-cash transaction, which is expected to close in the second half of this year.
The company says the deal is an outgrowth of its strategic asset review and will enable it to focus on its fiber expansion plans in its core regions; it similarly sold assets in Ohio last year (see "Consolidated Communications to sell Ohio networks to Middle Point Home Telephone"). The Kansas City operations include approximately 19,000 consumer subscribers, 13,000 consumer broadband subscribers, and 1,900 commercial subscribers. Consolidated says the operations contributed approximately $50 million of revenue in fiscal 2021.
“We’re pleased to have reached an agreement with Alinda, a buyer who is committed to leveraging the Kansas City network we have built to bring new services and a local focus to the region,” said Bob Udell, president and CEO of Consolidated Communications. “The Kansas City market is a hybrid DOCSIS 3.1 cable-fiber network. The asset sale does not impact our fiber expansion plans or plan to upgrade 1.6 million total passings as we did not have fiber upgrade plans in this market. The divestiture is consistent with our strategic market review and goal to either invest as part of our fiber expansion plans or pursue monetization of assets.”
“We are excited about empowering an experienced management team and dedicated employees in Kansas City to deliver broadband and network solutions to residential, commercial, and carrier customers in Kansas City,” said Jim Metcalfe, managing partner at Alinda, which describes itself as “a specialist in digital infrastructure” focused on mid-market core-plus infrastructure investments in North America and Europe. “Our mission is to deliver first class service to customers through a locally headquartered and operated company by investing in people, systems, service, and the community.”
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