Cross River Fiber gets snapped up by Ridgemont Equity Partners

Ridgemont Equity Partners is cashing in on the emerging dark fiber opportunity by reaching a deal to acquire Cross River Fiber.

After meeting customary regulatory closing conditions, the two companies expect the deal to close in the fourth quarter of 2014.

Neither Cross River Fiber nor Ridgemont revealed the financial terms of the purchase.

While Cross River Fiber may have a new parent, the day-to-day operations of the company will remain unchanged.

Under the terms of the agreement, Cross River Fiber's management team will retain a large ownership stake in the company and continue to operate in their current roles at the Summit, N.J., headquarters.

Ridgemont said that Cross River CEO Vincenzo Clemente and the existing management team "will partner with Ridgemont to drive the next phase of the company's growth."

One of the benefits of the acquisition for Cross River is it will gain more financial backing to pursue the expansion of its dark fiber network into new markets to satisfy the needs of its customers in the financial, carrier, education, health care and enterprise sectors.

Over the past two years, the service provider has been expanding its network reach across New Jersey to cash in on the growing need from the financial community for low latency services and the health care industry.

When the acquisition closes, Webster Bank and CoBank will provide debt financing to support the transaction as well as future growth.

While Cross River Fiber is the latest service provider to be purchased by a private equity firm, it is not alone. In 2010, Nautic Partners and Ridgemont Equity Partners sold Fibertech $500 million to Court Square, for example.

For more:
- see the release

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