Peak 10, a portfolio company of GI Partners, has agreed to acquire ViaWest, a wholly-owned subsidiary of publicly-traded Shaw Communications, for $1.675 billion in cash. GI Partners is a prior owner of ViaWest. It invested in the company in May 2010 and then sold it in September 2014 to Shaw Communications.
Peak 10 provides IT infrastructure services including data center services, private and enterprise cloud infrastructure, and managed services. The company operates 24 data centers in 10 markets in the US, primarily serving mid-sized enterprises around the globe. Peak 10 is headquartered in Charlotte, NC (www.peak10.com). GI Partners acquired Peak 10 from Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe in May 2014.
The combination of ViaWest with Peak 10 will create a company with operations in 20 domestic and international markets including Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Dallas, Denver, Ft. Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Las Vegas, Louisville, Minneapolis, Nashville, Phoenix, Portland, Raleigh, Richmond, Salt Lake City, Tampa, Amsterdam, and Calgary. The increased scale and geographic coverage will enable the combined company to serve its customers across an enhanced platform of products and capabilities. Chris Downie, the Chief Executive Officer of Peak 10, will be the Chief Executive Officer of the combined company and Nancy Phillips, the Chief Executive Officer of ViaWest, will become the executive Chair of the Board.
“As an active investor in the IT infrastructure space for over 15 years, we are excited to bring these two growing companies together,” said David Mace, a Managing Director at GI Partners. “Peak 10 and ViaWest will be a powerful combination to support customers’ expanding data needs in domestic and international markets. We support the combined company’s commitment to service excellence and look forward to partnering with the leadership team to help drive the next phase of growth.”
GI Partners invests from $50 million to $250 million in companies with enterprise values of $100 million to $750 million. Sectors of interest include IT infrastructure, healthcare, software, and services. The firm currently manages over $14 billion in capital commitments. GI Partners was founded in 2001 and is based in San Francisco (www.gipartners.com).
“By joining forces, Peak 10 and ViaWest will create a leading hybrid IT infrastructure and solutions provider well-positioned to deliver significant benefits to our customers,” said Mr. Downie. “This transformative transaction will expand our scale and geographic reach and we are excited to bring together two companies with cohesive operating philosophies and complementary strengths.”
Shaw Communications (TSX: SJR.B; NYSE: SJR) is a Canadian telecommunications company that provides telephone, Internet, television, and mobile services all backed by a fiber optic network. The company is headquartered in Calgary (www.shaw.ca). Shaw acquired ViaWest in 2014 for $1.2 billion and later made additional data center add-on acquisitions. Analysts have estimated that Shaw’s total invested capital and operating losses in ViaWest to be $1.4 billion resulting in a small gain on the sale of the company of approximately $275 million.
The transaction is anticipated to close in the third quarter of 2017. DH Capital was the financial advisor and Paul Hastings was the legal counsel to Peak 10 and GI Partners.
© 2017 Private Equity Professional | June 14, 2017
