Stonepeak, a leading alternative investment firm specializing in infrastructure and real assets, has closed its previously announced $8.1 billion acquisition of Astound Broadband (Astound), the sixth largest U.S. cable operator in the United States, operating leading regional providers RCN, Grande Communications (Grande), Wave Broadband (Wave) and enTouch Systems (enTouch).
Astound has built modern, high-speed communication networks for residential and businesses customers of all sizes. The company offers gigabit speeds serving eight of the top ten largest metro areas throughout the United States. RCN, Grande, Wave and enTouch together serve over one million customers with 23,000 miles of fiber across Chicago, Eastern Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New York City, Northern California, Oregon, Texas, Washington, DC., and Washington state.
Since the announcement of the transaction with Stonepeak in November 2020, Astound has continued to execute on strategic growth initiatives including signing two additional transactions that bolster the company’s capabilities in key markets: the acquisition of WideOpenWest’s Chicago, Indiana, and Maryland markets, and the acquisition of Harris Broadband, a leading provider of fiber to the home services across central Texas. Stonepeak will partner closely with the Astound management team to continue this positive momentum as the company remains active across multiple growth areas, including organic network expansion, additional M&A opportunities and efforts to accelerate its residential and commercial segments.
The Stonepeak digital infrastructure portfolio includes data center, fiber, residential broadband, small cell and tower assets across the Americas, Asia and Europe with cumulative enterprise value and equity commitments of more than $30 billion.
