M/C Partners Completes Investment in TowerCom

BOSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–M/C Partners, a Boston-based communications and technology services-focused private equity firm, announced today that it has closed on an equity investment in TowerCom, LLC, a Jacksonville, FL-based communications tower developer. M/C’s initial investment and additional future commitment will allow TowerCom to continue to execute on its robust new tower build plan on behalf of national and regional wireless carriers.

“Our exceptional team of operating partners and the strength of our go-to-market approach, coupled with this latest round of funding from M/C, positions us well to capitalize on our platform to drive our next phase of growth.”

“As wireless carriers expand their 5G footprints and nationwide coverage with mid and high band spectrum, the industry, and TowerCom, should see strong colocation prospects in the coming years,” said Rad Lovett, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of TowerCom. “Our exceptional team of operating partners and the strength of our go-to-market approach, coupled with this latest round of funding from M/C, positions us well to capitalize on our platform to drive our next phase of growth.”

“With its experienced team, long track record of building and operating towers across the country, and strong carrier relationships, TowerCom is well-positioned to continue its recent momentum and make an even bigger impact in this space,” said Brian Clark, Managing Partner at M/C Partners. “Our investment in TowerCom gives us the unique opportunity to partner with a proven tower developer that brings visibility into a scaled portfolio of towers as carriers ramp up spending on their 5G deployments in a critical investment cycle for the wireless communications industry.”

Abhishek Rampuria, Vice President at M/C Partners, added, “Our investment in TowerCom builds on M/C’s long and successful heritage of investing in the wireless industry. The TowerCom team has built a best-in-class tower development platform and we are excited to begin this partnership and support the next chapter in the TowerCom story.”

As TowerCom’s primary financial investor, M/C Partners will contribute its extensive experience in the communications and technology services markets. M/C has been a leading investor in this sector for more than three decades, having previously invested in Lightower, Zayo, MetroPCS, Connectivity Wireless and others. Legal counsel for M/C Partners was provided by Sidley Austin LLP and Fox Rothschild LLP.

About TowerCom

TowerCom is a Jacksonville, FL-based communications tower developer executing new tower builds on behalf of carrier customers primarily in the Southeast and Southwest US. TowerCom has established itself as a major regional tower developer with deep relationships with both national and regional wireless carriers. TowerCom is responsible for the end-to-end tower development process, taking carrier input on target locations and coverage needs and then executing site acquisition, permitting / zoning, construction, and operational support. The company is led by a veteran management team that has experience in all phases of tower infrastructure development, deployment and management. For more information, visit www.towercomenterprises.com.

About M/C Partners

Based in Boston, M/C Partners is a private equity firm focused on small and mid-sized businesses in the communications and technology services sectors. For more than three decades M/C Partners has invested $2.2 billion of capital in over 130 companies, leveraging its deep industry expertise to understand long-term secular trends and identify growth opportunities. The firm is currently investing its eighth fund, partnering with promising companies and empowering strong leaders to accelerate growth, optimize operations, and build long-term value. For more information, visit www.mcpartners.com.

Neutral Connect Networks Acquires Connectivity Wireless Solutions Extending its Leadership in the Growing Neutral-Host Infrastructure and Services Business

BOSTON, March 25, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Neutral Connect Networks announced today the acquisition of Connectivity Wireless Solutions by M/C Partners, a Boston-based private equity firm which is the leading equity investment firm for Neutral Connect Networks. M/C Partners acquired Connectivity Wireless Solutions and its subsidiaries, including Simplifi DAS Holdings, with a plan to consolidate the businesses to accelerate growth in the neutral-host infrastructure and in-building wireless services business.

“These businesses are natural complements to one another and create a combined entity with enhanced scale, industry-leading technical expertise, and the operational capacity to support the growth in this market,” said Brian Clark, Managing Partner at M/C Partners. “M/C Partners has a long and successful heritage in the wireless industry, and we believe the neutral-host infrastructure and in-building wireless business represents a significant growth opportunity, particularly with the planned deployments of CBRS, private LTE networks and the transition to 5G, which we are keen to participate in.”

As part of the acquisition, Stephen Bye has assumed the role of CEO of the newly combined companies. The senior leadership teams of Neutral Connect Networks and Connectivity Wireless Solutions will report directly to Bye, a wireless industry veteran with more than 27 years of experience working for wireless, cable and wireline service providers in the U.S. and abroad.

Over the coming weeks, the companies will reorganize to improve operating efficiencies to create a world-class organization. “Our team members represent the most important capability we have,” Bye said, “and we will work together to ensure we operate as efficiently as possible to deliver best-in-class solutions and services to our customers, supporting managed Wi-Fi, CBRS, private LTE networks, and the evolution to 5G and beyond.”

During the transition, the companies will remain focused on serving customers, which is their highest priority. “The combination of Neutral Connect Networks and Connectivity Wireless Solutions will enable us to pursue an acceleration of growth in the neutral-host infrastructure and in-building wireless services business, supporting wireless service providers, cable companies, venue owners, property developers and enterprise customers,” said Bye. “Our core strengths of integrity, reliability, technology leadership, operational excellence and time-to-market allow us to deliver enhanced value to all of our customers and their end customers.”

About Neutral Connect Networks: A Leading Provider of Neutral-Host Wireless Networks
Founded in 2016 and based in Boynton Beach, Florida, Neutral Connect Networks is a leading provider of wireless communications networks (including in-building wireless, managed Wi-Fi and small cells) used by major service providers to improve the quality of coverage with increased throughput and capacity in buildings, at sports and entertainment venues, in parks, transportation hubs, and business shopping districts around the U.S. For more information, visit www.neutralconnect.com.

About Connectivity Wireless Solutions: A Leading In-Building Wireless Systems Integrator
Connectivity Wireless Solutions, based in Duluth, Georgia, was founded in 2008 by Greg Jacobs, Blake Maffei and Clayt Mason with a mission to simplify the complexities of designing, installing, and maintaining in-building wireless distributed antenna systems. Over the course of 10 years, Connectivity Wireless Solutions has successfully engineered and deployed more than 2,700 in-building wireless networks which provide more than 500 million square feet of coverage across the U.S. The company remains committed to its original vision: to make world-class, high-quality in-building wireless coverage a more achievable reality for its customers. As part of the leadership transition, Greg Jacobs will join the board of the consolidated company. For more information, visit www.connectivitywireless.com.   

About M/C Partners
Based in Boston, Massachusetts, M/C Partners is a private equity firm focused exclusively on the communications, information technology services and media sectors. The firm has invested over $2.2 billion of capital into nearly 100 companies, generally investing in companies with enterprise values of $25 million to $250 million. Related current and prior investments include Cavalier Telephone, Ensono, Everstream, Fusepoint, Denovo, ICG Communications, Involta, Lightower, MetroPCS, NuVox, Thrive Networks and Zayo Group. The firm has strong institutional backing from the nation's leading pension funds and endowments as well as a long track record of success. For more information, visit www.mcpartners.com.

MEDIA RELATIONS CONTACT:
Brittanie Boyd
1-888-591-9418 x 124
bboyd@connectivitywireless.com

InfoHedge to Become the Alternative Investment Hosting Division for Thrive

FOXBOROUGH, Mass., July 11, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Thrive, a leading provider of next generation managed services, proudly announces today that it has completed a transaction with InfoHedge Technologies, a leading financial services focused private cloud & managed services provider based in New York City.  InfoHedge will become a separate division within Thrive, focused on the alternative investment management & hedge fund community, with plans to expand its application hosting product set and geographic reach via Thrive's next generation managed services platform and access to capital via M/C Partners, Thrive's private equity financial sponsor.

Led by managing partners, Alexander Kouperman, Eugene Kushnirskiy, Felix Ilionskiy, Michael Curry and Lev Vinogradov, InfoHedge has grown to become a leader in the financial services sector, recently winning the 2018 Alternative Investment Award for excellence.  By servicing nearly 400 hedge fund, REIT, asset management and family office customers for over a dozen years, InfoHedge has developed a reputation as an innovator of Cloud, Application Hosting and Managed Services on its proprietary InfoHedge Hosted PlatformTM.

"Thrive is excited to expand our rapidly growing Cloud Hosting business with additional penetration into the financial services vertical," said Rob Stephenson, Thrive's CEO.  "The opportunity for InfoHedge's customers to take advantage of Thrive's unbundled next generation managed services and our clients to have access to the InfoHedge Hosted PlatformTM is a powerful story for the marketplace and a strong motivator behind the deal."

"On behalf of my partners and employees, we're thrilled to announce that InfoHedge will become the Alternative Investment Hosting Platform for Thrive, joining one of the largest and most respected technology services firms in the Northeast," said Alexander Kouperman, InfoHedge's President.  "With the unprecedented growth we're currently experiencing, InfoHedge was focused upon finding the right partner to help us scale and continue providing superior service to our FinTech client community.  Thrive and their financial sponsor, M/C Partners, stepped up to the table and were a perfect fit for our strategic goals of expanding InfoHedge's Cloud, Managed Services and Application Hosting leadership position within the Alternative Investment space."

All five managing partners of InfoHedge will continue to run the division within Thrive under the direction of Marc Pantoni.  Mr. Pantoni was recently named Thrive's President after merging his New York-based managed services firm, Precision IT, with Thrive in 2017.  Precision IT also had a strong proficiency in financial services, with more than 70% of their clients in the Private Equity & Asset Management industries.

"The InfoHedge acquisition brings additional Cloud, Hosting and Application Management capabilities to the current Thrive platform, which we feel is strongly positioned for tremendous growth as part of our continued strategic mission," said Gillis Cashman, Thrive's Chairman and Managing Partner at M/C Partners.

Morgan Partners acted as the exclusive advisor for the transaction on behalf of InfoHedge. Choate, Hall & Stewart served as legal counsel to Thrive and M/C Partners. Burns & Levinson served as legal counsel to InfoHedge.

About Thrive

Thrive is a leading next generation managed services provider.  The Thrive technology solutions suite utilizes Cloud, Cyber Security, Networking, Disaster Recovery and other pioneering managed services to help compliance-driven businesses solve complex IT issues. Thrive was acquired by M/C Partners in 2016 as a Northeast United States growth platform to service the Financial Services, Healthcare, Biotech, Life Sciences, Banking and other mid-market verticals. In developing this new technology service ecosystem, Thrive is uniquely positioned to offer compliance-based solutions to its valued client base. For more information, visit www.thrivenetworks.com

About InfoHedge

InfoHedge Technologies is a premier infrastructure-as-a-service managed service provider to the financial services community. InfoHedge's flagship product, InfoHedge Hosted Platform ("IHP"), provides a turnkey, enterprise-grade, fully managed private cloud infrastructure on par with those of Tier 1 banks without the associated capital expenditures, design and maintenance. InfoHedge also hosts mission-critical business applications and provides related IT services and support. IHP is a single-custody solution (e.g., all software and data are housed on equipment owned and operated by InfoHedge) architected with best practices garnered from years of experience managing complex trading platforms for demanding clients. InfoHedge's customers include Hedge Funds, Prime Brokers, Broker Dealers, Asset Managers, Investment Advisors, Private Equity and Investment Banks with a combined client base on the buy side that exceeds $550B AUM. InfoHedge is headquartered in New York City, with additional employees in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, Connecticut, and Florida.

About M/C Partners

M/C Partners is a private equity firm focused exclusively on the communications, media, and information technology sectors. The firm has invested over $2.2 billion of capital into nearly 100 companies in those sectors. M/C-backed companies include Cavalier Telephone, Denovo, Ensono, Everstream, Fusepoint, ICG Communications, Involta, Legendary Pictures, Lightower, MetroPCS, NuVox, and Zayo Group. The firm has strong institutional backing from the nation's leading pension funds and endowments as well as a long track record of success. M/C Partners has offices in Boston and San Francisco. For more information, visit www.mcpartners.com.

For media inquiries, please contact:

Brian J. Hawthorne, VP of Marketing
197374@email4pr.com
617-952-0242

AMP Capital Announces Entry into a Definitive Agreement to Purchase Everstream

M/C Partners-led Consortium to sell Everstream

CLEVELAND--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Everstream Solutions LLC (“Everstream”), a super-regional network service provider bringing fiber-based Ethernet, internet and data center solutions to businesses throughout the Midwest, announced today that its current investors—M/C Partners, a Boston-based private equity firm, and its limited partners including investors advised by the Private Equity Group of J.P. Morgan Asset Management and Morgan Stanley Alternative Investment Partners—have entered into a definitive agreement to sell Everstream to AMP Capital. Terms were not disclosed.

“Our team is very thankful to M/C for the opportunity to partner with them and deliver an outstanding result to their investors,” said Brett Lindsey, President and Chief Executive Officer, Everstream. M/C initially acquired Everstream from a non-profit in 2015 and has since supported the business in its accelerated organic growth strategy as well as its acquisitions of two major Michigan-based fiber network operators.

“We are excited to join forces with AMP Capital,” Lindsey continued. “With their support, Everstream looks forward to continued positive growth through acquisitions, greenfield network builds and organic growth in our existing markets.”

AMP Capital is a global investment manager headquartered in Australia with a growing international presence, including in North America. In the U.S., AMP Capital has offices in New York, Chicago and Irvine, California. Its U.S. infrastructure equity investments include Chicago’s Millennium Garages, the largest underground parking system in the U.S., and ITS ConGlobal, a leading shipping and intermodal terminal operator.

“Everstream will be our platform for the consolidation of telecom assets in North America and we are excited about the opportunity to invest in the U.S. telecom sector and grow the business,” said Dylan Foo, Head of Americas Infrastructure Equity, AMP Capital.

“We continually look for quality investments on behalf of our clients. Our focus remains on the middle market, which is where we see the greatest value and opportunity,” Foo continued. “Communications infrastructure has become an essential service in the modern world, including Fiber, Wireless and Data Centers. AMP Capital has a strong global pedigree in this target sector, and we are pleased to secure our first North American Fiber asset.”

The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2018 once necessary regulatory approvals are obtained. Everstream plans to utilize the investment from AMP Capital for acquisitions and to fund organic network growth and development.

“M/C has been investing in the fiber industry for over three decades and has worked with Brett on three transactions in the last 15 years,” said Gillis Cashman, Managing Partner, M/C Partners, and member of the Everstream Board of Directors. “We couldn’t be happier with the outcome of this investment and for the Everstream team.”

Evercore and MVP Capital served as lead financial advisers to Everstream and M/C Partners in connection with the transaction. Choate, Hall & Stewart and Thompson Hine served as legal counsel to Everstream and M/C Partners. Goldman Sachs served as financial advisor to AMP Capital and White & Case served as legal counsel.

About Everstream
Everstream is a super-regional network service provider bringing fiber-based Ethernet, internet and data center solutions to businesses throughout the Midwest. We are the Business Fiber Network®. We focus on delivering best-in-class network solutions while providing an unrivaled commitment to customer service. With more than 10,000 route miles and comprehensive data center connectivity at 100 Gigabit speed, we provide the fastest network in our service areas. Everstream’s network allows businesses to operate a converged IP network capable of delivering robust voice, video, and data services at speeds from 10 Mbps to 100 Gbps. For more information, visit everstream.net.

About AMP Capital
AMP Capital is a specialist global investment manager with A$187.7 billion in funds under management as of December 31, 2017, and more than 250 investment professionals. AMP Capital has a heritage and strength in real estate and infrastructure, and specialist expertise in fixed income, equities and multi-asset solutions. It is a subsidiary of AMP Limited, which was established in 1849, and is one of Australia’s largest retail and corporate pension providers. For more information, visit ampcapital.com.au.

About M/C Partners
M/C Partners is a private equity firm focused exclusively on the communications, media and information technology sectors. The firm has invested over $2.2 billion of capital into over 130 companies in those sectors. Companies M/C has backed include Cavalier Telephone, Ensono, Everstream, Fusepoint, ICG Communications, Involta, Legendary Pictures, Lightower, MetroPCS, NuVox, Thrive and Zayo Group. The firm has strong institutional backing from the nation’s leading pension funds and endowments as well as a long track record of success. For more information, visit mcpartners.com.

About J.P. Morgan Asset Management
J.P. Morgan Asset Management, with assets under management of $1.7 trillion (as of December 31, 2017), is a global leader in investment management. J.P. Morgan Asset Management’s clients include institutions, retail investors and high net worth individuals in every major market throughout the world. J.P. Morgan Asset Management offers global investment management in equities, fixed income, real estate, hedge funds, private equity and liquidity. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), the parent company of J.P. Morgan Asset Management, is a leading global asset management firm with assets of approximately $2.5 trillion (as of December 31, 2017) and operations worldwide. Information about JPMorgan Chase & Co. is available at jpmorganchase.com. J.P. Morgan Asset Management is the marketing name for the asset management businesses of JPMorgan Chase & Co. and its affiliates worldwide.

About Morgan Stanley Alternative Investment Partners
Alternative Investment Partners Private Markets, an investment team within Morgan Stanley Investment Management, was established in 2000 and specializes in delivering unique and innovative private market solutions to a global client base. AIP Private Markets’ built-for-purpose investment team draws on its deep understanding of private markets strategies formed over decades of investment experience and seeks to apply this expertise and insight to bring thoughtful, opportunistic and innovative solutions to clients.

Morgan Stanley Investment Management, together with its investment advisory affiliates, has 608 investment professionals around the world and $482 billion in assets under management or supervision as of December 31, 2017. Morgan Stanley Investment Management strives to provide outstanding long-term investment performance, service and a comprehensive suite of investment management solutions to a diverse client base, which includes governments, institutions, corporations and individuals worldwide.

Contacts

Everstream Solutions LLC
Suzanne Scarpino, 216-346-5227
sscarpino@everstream.net