FirstLight Fiber Successfully Raises Five-Year Senior Secured Infrastructure Debt Financing Package
May 07 2024 - 10:29AM
FirstLight Fiber, the Northeast U.S.’s largest independent fiber
bandwidth infrastructure provider with 25,000 fiber network route
miles and more than 125,000 addressable locations, successfully
raised a five-year senior secured infrastructure debt financing
package. The package will be used to refinance FirstLight’s
existing financing and support its future capital expenditure
needs.
The financing was led by a syndicate of six international banks
with a strong franchise in digital infrastructure: Banco Bilbao
Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), J.P. Morgan, Natixis Corporate &
Investment Banking, Société Générale (who also acted as structuring
and coordinating bank), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC),
and TD Securities.
“I am excited to announce this new financing that is structured
around FirstLight’s needs and provides flexibility to support our
next stages of growth,” said FirstLight CFO Peter Zarrella.
“The strong appetite from international infrastructure banks is
testimony to FirstLight’s position as a leading provider of
essential communications infrastructure and confirms the quality of
our differentiated product offering,” commented FirstLight CEO
Jason Campbell.
“We are extremely proud to have secured this innovative
financing from many of our core relationship banks,” added Kevin
Genieser, Managing Partner at Antin Infrastructure Partners and
FirstLight Board Member. “This is an exciting evolution for us and
well positions FirstLight for the future.”
FirstLight Fiber is owned by funds managed by Antin
Infrastructure Partners.
Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP represented FirstLight and Antin
in the transaction. Milbank LLP acted as lenders’ counsel.
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About FirstLight Fiber
FirstLight, headquartered in Albany, New York,
provides fiber-optic data, Internet, data center, cloud, unified
communications, and managed services to enterprise and carrier
customers throughout the Northeast and mid-Atlantic connecting more
than 15,000 locations in service with more than 125,000 locations
serviceable by our more than 25,000-route mile network. FirstLight
offers a robust suite of advanced telecommunications products
featuring a comprehensive portfolio of high bandwidth connectivity
solutions including Ethernet, wavelength and dark fiber services as
well as dedicated Internet access solutions, data center, cloud and
voice services. FirstLight’s clientele includes national cellular
providers and wireline carriers and many leading enterprises,
spanning high tech manufacturing and research, hospitals and
healthcare, banking and financial, secondary education, colleges
and universities, and local and state governments FirstLight was
named a Top Workplace USA in 2022 and 2023.
To learn more about FirstLight, visit https://firstlight.net/,
or follow the company on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.
John Romagnoli
FirstLight
6173795420
jromagnoli@firstlight.net