Birch Telecom is taking another step in its growth process as it gets Florida bankruptcy court permission to acquire Cordia Communications for $8 million.
By acquiring Cordia--one of many deals Birch has made in recent years to expand its network presence and reach--the carrier will add 56,000 consumer customers to its roster.
Cordia, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May, planned to hold an auction for its assets on July 1, but Birch was the only service provider that expressed an interest in the company so it cancelled the auction.
According to documents filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Orlando, Birch will acquire all of Cordia's retail, wholesale, and long-distance-only lines in addition to thousands of other lines from two Cordia affiliates. Birch expects to close the deal in the next three months.
M&A continues to be one of Birch's growth mantras. In June, Birch secured $77.5 million in new funding to target both organic growth and M&A opportunities.
Greg Corwin, Birch Communications' spokesman, said its M&A strategy is all about balancing network and customer growth with keeping operational costs low.
"We've gotten very good at integrating new customer bases into our systems and not increasing our costs," Corwin told Dow Jones. "We run a tight ship."
For more:
- Total Telecom via Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review has this article
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