Private equity firm GTCR has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Vyve Broadband from BBH Capital Partners. In a separate deal, GTCR has also signed a definitive agreement to acquire the broadband assets of Eagle Communications. The acquisitions will be completed through GTCR's management partnership with Mega Broadband Investments, a management startup with Phil Spencer that focuses on acquiring rural broadband assets. GTCR first partnered with Spencer in 2012 to form Rural Broadband Investments.
Founded in 2012, and operationally headquartered in Shawnee, OK, Vyve provides high-speed data, video and voice services to residential and business customers in rural markets across Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Georgia and Wyoming. The addition of Vyve doubles MBI's footprint and accelerates its strategy of being a scale broadband provider in rural markets. The acquisition comes less than a year after MBI's initial platform investment in Northland Communications, which operates smaller market cable systems in Alabama, California, Georgia, Idaho, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Washington.
"The acquisition of Vyve is an exciting addition to MBI following our recent platform acquisition of Northland," said Spencer, CEO of MBI. "Vyve has developed an excellent network in attractive geographies, and we look forward to leveraging Vyve's state-of-the-art infrastructure to continue to roll out enhanced high-speed data services to both our residential and commercial customers. Further, Vyve has an outstanding employee base, and we plan to build upon the excellent work they have done to date in efforts to continuously improve the quality of service to our customers."
Founded in 1948, and headquartered in Hays, KS, Eagle serves customers across Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado. Eagle also owns and operates a collection of radio stations.
"Eagle's broadband business has been a tremendous asset for our communities as well as its employee-owners," said Gary Shorman, president & CEO of Eagle Communications. "Our success has been built on great products and superior customer service. I am excited see the organization continue to prosper under GTCR's ownership and the new leadership team. Our communities will continue to reap the benefits of the planned upgrades combined with Eagle's service excellence. Eagle will continue to be your local broadband and video provider, and I am excited to continue partnering with the business through our radio stations."