In The News -
Apr 27, 2020 -
By Jeremy Nobile, Crain’s Cleveland Business
Everstream has closed its acquisition of Dan Gilbert’s Rocket Fiber LLC that completes the former company’s coverage of all major Michigan markets.
Terms of the deal revealed in February, which includes 41 route miles in greater Detroit with access to 5,000 businesses, were not disclosed. Everstream also rolls up two of Rocket Fiber’s two downtown Detroit offices, which include 75 employees.
The acquisition builds on ongoing Midwest expansion plans for the Cleveland-based provider of business-only fiber internet. Everstream raised $342.5 million in debt earlier this month to accelerate those plans.
“Everstream’s acquisition of Rocket Fiber gives us an even stronger footprint in Michigan, and as we continue to grow, our Detroit customers now have direct access throughout the Midwest thanks to the Everstream network,” said Everstream president and CEO Brett Lindsey in a statement. “Detroit businesses will continue to experience high-capacity, low-latency connectivity services and we’re excited to partner with new and existing customers to help them scale.”
The Rocket Fiber deal is a part of Everstream’s plans to build out 15,000 miles of fiber across the Midwest and expand into five new markets this year. It has previously said it would invest at least $250 million this year to achieve those goals.
One of those new markets, Chicago, came online in February. Other new markets in the expansion plan include Dayton; Fort Wayne, Ind.; Louisville, Ky.; and St. Louis.In February, Everstream purchased 200 route miles centering around Indianapolis from DataBank.
As reported by The Detroit News, the Rocket Fiber deal marks the first Gilbert-backed startup to spin off from the Rock Family of Companies.
Per a company description, Everstream’s enterprise-grade network delivers robust business fiber services, including dedicated internet access, dark fiber, ethernet and data center solutions. The company’s advanced fiber network offers direct peering with all major carriers and cloud hyperscalers. With high-speed, low-latency connections, it provides converged internet, voice and data services at speeds of up to 100 Gbps.
Source: https://www.crainscleveland.com/technology/everstream-completes-acquisition-dan-gilbert-backed-rocket-fiber-detroit
