Warburg Pincus, a global private equity firm, will invest at least $245 million in Integra Telecom, which provides voice, data and Internet communications to business and carrier customers in eight Western U.S. states, Integra Telecom will continue to operate as a privately held company and will not raise any primary equity in this transaction.
Integra Telecom, which operates in Arizona, California, Idaho, Minnesota, North Dakota, Oregon, Utah and Washington, owns eight fiber metropolitan access networks, a tier-one Internet and data network and a 4,700-mile high-speed long-haul network. Primary equity investors in the company currently include Banc of America Capital Investors, Boston Ventures and Nautic Equity Partners.
The Warburg Pincus equity transaction is separate from, and not required to complete its planned acquisition of Eschelon Telecom. The Eschelon acquisition is expected to close on August 31, 2007.
"Warburg Pincus' substantial investment in Integra validates our business model and recognizes the future potential that the company has as the largest, most established competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) in the Western United States," said Dudley R. Slater, chief executive officer of Integra Telecom.
Warburg Pincus has a history of investing in the information and communication technology sectors, including investments in Avaya, BEA Systems, Bharti Tele-Ventures, Cassatt, Harbour Networks, NeuStar, Telcordia and VERITAS Software.
http://www.integratelecom.com
http://www.warburgpincus.com
- In March 2007, Integra announced plans to acquire Eschelon Telecom, in a deal that would create the largest CLEC in the Western United States.
