CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--GTCR, a leading private equity firm, today announced it has simultaneously signed and closed the acquisition of Cable Management Associates (“CMA”), a subsidiary of privately held Etan Industries (“Etan”). The acquisition was completed through GTCR’s previously established partnership with Rural Broadband Investments (“RBI”), and comes only one month after RBI’s initial platform investment in NewWave Communications (“NewWave”). With extensive cable experience, RBI intends to invest in CMA in order to provide CMA’s customers with state of the art high-speed internet, video and voice services.
GTCR and Mr. Phil Spencer formed RBI in late 2012 for the purpose of acquiring broadband infrastructure assets in small and mid-sized communities. CMA passes approximately 120,000 homes in rural Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Nevada. This is the second acquisition by RBI, which plans to build a platform of 300,000-400,000 cable subscribers in small-to-mid sized rural markets to deliver a breadth of new services to residential and commercial customers. RBI now serves over 120,000 customers and passes approximately 370,000 homes in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and Nevada.
“The acquisition of CMA is an excellent add-on to RBI following our recent platform acquisition of NewWave,” says Phil Spencer, CEO of Rural Broadband Investments. “We believe our team can successfully upgrade these systems to the latest technology, which would allow us to offer faster and more reliable internet service and significantly increase the number of HD channels to our video lineup. This will give us an exceptional opportunity to increase penetration in video, voice and high-speed internet services as well as advanced commercial services.”
"The CMA acquisition is an exciting opportunity to continue to build our investment in the cable industry," said Phil Canfield, Managing Director at GTCR. "We look forward to continuing our work with Phil Spencer and his team to build a leading cable platform through increasing high-speed data penetration, growth in commercial services and additional accretive acquisitions."
GTCR’s investment in CMA will be made from GTCR Fund X, a private equity fund with $3.25 billion of committed capital.
Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP served as legal counsel for CMA’s parent company, Etan Industries. RBC Capital Markets represented Etan and served as Etan’s exclusive M&A advisor. Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal counsel and PriceWaterhouseCoopers served as accounting advisor to GTCR and RBI. Waller Capital acted as exclusive financial advisor to GTCR and RBI. SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Inc. and Goldman Sachs Bank USA arranged debt financing in connection with the transaction.
About GTCR
Founded in 1980, GTCR is a leading private equity firm focused on investing in growth companies in the Financial Services & Technology, Healthcare and Information Services & Technology industries. The Chicago-based firm pioneered The Leaders Strategy™ - finding and partnering with management leaders in core domains to identify, acquire and build market-leading companies through transformational acquisitions and organic growth. Since its inception, GTCR has invested more than $10 billion in over 200 companies. For more information, please visit www.gtcr.com.
About Rural Broadband Investments
Rural Broadband Investments, headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas, acquires and invests in rural-focused cable systems serving residential and commercial customers in small-to-middle sized markets and rural geographies. For more information, please visit www.ruralbroadbandinvestments.com.
