On the expansion front Everstream said the funds will support network growth and densification across the existing 10-state footprint.
Everstream CEO Brett Lindsey added: “As data usage continues to skyrocket, a reliable, scalable fibre backbone is critical to delivering next-generation technologies and services to our business customers.
“This latest round of financing has demonstrated that our partners have confidence in Everstream’s strategy to grow and densify our best-in-class network across our footprint.”
There was no clarification on how the funds would be divided between investment and refinancing, but the debt package includes both senior and junior tranches. Societe Generale is acting as coordinating and structuring bank; Natixis as global coordinating bookrunner and joint lead arranger; ING, Santander and SMBC as joint bookrunners and joint lead arrangers; CoBank, Macquarie, RBC, TD Bank, and Vantage Infrastructure as joint lead arrangers; and DigitalBridge Credit, in partnership with a wholly-owned subsidiary of CPP Investments, as lender to the junior tranche.
“The role of communications infrastructure is increasingly critical, with technologies and services such as fibre and data centres leading the way,” said Sam Sixt board member at Everstream and investment director at its majority owner AMP Capital.
“Through its successes to date, Everstream has demonstrated it has both the vision for the next generation of communications and the ability to execute on that vision. We are very pleased that the latest round of financing will support Everstream during its next phase of growth.”
Everstream's expansion covers both metro and rural areas across the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic states. Last year the company increased its total route miles of fiber by 80%, growing to nearly 27,000 route miles.
“This innovative financing solution provides Everstream with the flexibility and runway to build critical infrastructure that underpins the demands of its customers,” said Aman Sareen, director at AMP Capital. “The calibre of institutions, which features a strong cross section of banks and infrastructure investors, speaks to the high-quality nature of the asset and best-in-class management team.”
Everstream created its wholesale team in 2018 with the appointments of Doug Brown and Steve Gauthier. The following January it announced plans to invest $300 million into fibre network builds in 12 markets, which saw it acquire Arch Fiber, DataBank's assets and Uniti's fibre network assets.
Last year Everstream committed $47 million to connect more than 2,000 macro cell towers in the Midwest and made a series of leadership changes.
