Fiber M&A: Wave Raises War Chest Makes Two More Acquisitions

This week saw some more regional fiber M&A up in the Pacific Northwest.  Wave has announced both the raising of $125M in new funds and the acquisition of two service providers in northwest Oregon and southwest Washington.

Wave has raised another $125M via an add-on loan to the $130M it raised just last year.  With part of the new funds they have acquired both CoastCom, based in Newport OR, and SawNet, based in Vancouver, WA.  The rest is earmarked for organic expansion projects, which the company has been pushing throughout its territory to the tune of 100 route miles each month.

CoastCom operates a submarine cable landing station in Pacific City, Oregon and a fiber backhaul route from there to Hillsboro just west of Portland.  They have also been building out a metro ring in Hillsboro connecting six key data centers.  CoastCom has also builds fiber routes for others throughout the region, and in all has about 250 route miles in its own inventory.

For its part, Sawnet operates a fiber network that runs inland from Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington along the Columbia River Gorge where the company hooks up both residential and business customers via a combination of fiber and fixed wireless.  They have some 100 route miles of fiber and also work closely with NoaNet, the non-profit wholesale fiber network.

Both acquisitions give Wave greater depth in the region around Portland, making their assets there look a bit more like their bigger footprint up in the Seattle region.  Wave’s fiber network now spans some 5,500 route miles across three states, connecting some 4,000 buildings.  They’ve also revealed plans to double the size of their headquarters in Kirkland, Washington.

If you haven't already, please take our Reader Survey! Just 3 questions to help us better understand who is reading Telecom Ramblings so we can serve you better!

Categories: Mergers and Acquisitions · Metro fiber