Ares Joins Existing Investor GI Data
Infrastructure to Help Accelerate Bluepeak's Fiber-to-the-Home
Expansion
DENVER,
Feb. 29,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Bluepeak (the "Company"), a
leading provider of fiber broadband to residential and commercial
customers in communities across the Great Plains region, today
announced that funds managed by Ares Management's Infrastructure
Opportunities and Alternative Credit strategies ("Ares") have made
a strategic investment into Bluepeak.
Since its 2021 acquisition by GI Data
Infrastructure, Bluepeak has expanded its regional footprint across
five states and has constructed a fiber network to over 140,000 new
homes. The investment from Ares will provide Bluepeak with fresh
capital intended to help further accelerate its growth plans across
the Great Plains region.
"Bluepeak is committed to providing reliable,
high-speed internet and top-tier customer service to our
communities," said Rich Fish, CEO of
Bluepeak. "We are incredibly proud of the Bluepeak team's
accomplishments to date, and we are excited to bring our services
to additional communities with the benefit of this capital
injection from Ares."
"Bluepeak has developed a differentiated fiber
platform that provides efficient, reliable, and critical service to
families and businesses across the Great Plains region," said
Keith Derman, Co-Head of the Ares
Infrastructure Opportunities strategy. "We are pleased to support
the Company's experienced management team with this structured
investment, which we believe will help accelerate its expansion
strategy into several attractive markets."
"Over the past three years, Bluepeak has grown
far beyond our initial expectations, and we believe this investment
positions the Company for long-term profitable growth," said
Mark Prybutok, Managing Director and
Co-Head of GI Data Infrastructure. "Ares is an experienced investor
in this space, they have approached this investment in a very
thoughtful way, and we look forward to a fruitful relationship with
them."
"We look forward to working with GI Data
Infrastructure and Bluepeak," said Joel
Holsinger, Co-Head of the Ares Alternative Credit strategy.
"This investment is an example of the collaborative strengths and
scale of Ares' platform, bringing together the Infrastructure
Opportunities and Alternative Credit strategies to provide Bluepeak
with flexible capital tied to an emerging asset class."
Bank Street Group LLC and TD Securities
(USA) served as financial advisors
to Bluepeak and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP served as legal
counsel to the Company. Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal
counsel to Ares.
About Bluepeak
Bluepeak is a leading provider of fiber
broadband to residential and commercial customers across five
states in the U.S. Bluepeak is dedicated to providing reliable
high-speed internet without the things that get in the way of great
service — like red tape, hidden fees, and slow response times.
Bluepeak offers up to 5 gigabits of speed for residential customers
and 10 gigabits for businesses, meeting the growing needs of its
customers in the communities it serves. Visit mybluepeak.com to
learn more.
About GI Partners
Founded in 2001, GI Partners is a
private investment firm with over 150 employees and offices in
San Francisco, New York, Dallas, Chicago, Greenwich, Scottsdale, and
London. The firm has raised more
than $43 billion in capital and
invests on behalf of leading institutional investors around the
world through its private equity, real estate, and data
infrastructure strategies. The private equity team invests
primarily in companies in the healthcare, services, and software
sectors. The real estate strategy focuses primarily on technology
and life sciences properties as well as other specialized types of
real estate. The data infrastructure team invests primarily in hard
asset infrastructure businesses underpinning the digital economy.
For more information, please visit www.gipartners.com.
About Ares Management Corporation
Ares Management
Corporation (NYSE:ARES) is a leading global alternative investment
manager offering clients complementary primary and secondary
investment solutions across the credit, private equity, real estate
and infrastructure asset classes. We seek to provide flexible
capital to support businesses and create value for our stakeholders
and within our communities. By collaborating across our investment
groups, we aim to generate consistent and attractive investment
returns throughout market cycles. As of December 31, 2023, Ares Management Corporation's
global platform had approximately $419
billion of assets under management, with approximately 2,850
employees operating across North
America, Europe,
Asia Pacific and the Middle East. For more information, please
visit www.aresmgmt.com.
Contacts:
Bluepeak
Jesse Granger,
+1-720-703-4315
jesse.granger@mybluepeak.com
GI Partners
Chris
Tofalli, +1-914-834-4334
chris@tofallipr.com
Gretchen Robinson
pr@gipartners.com
Ares Management
Jacob
Silber, +1-212-301-0376
media@aresmgmt.com
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SOURCE GI Partners