Simpson Thacher is advising Stonepeak and Astound Broadband in connection with Astound Broadband’s combination with GFiber (formerly, Google Fiber), creating a leading independent fiber provider. The new company will be majority owned by Stonepeak and Alphabet will remain a significant minority shareholder. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Astound Broadband is a leading telecommunications provider, serving eight of the top ten metro markets in the United States providing critical infrastructure to local communities. GFiber is an Alphabet company that brings Google Fiber and Google Fiber Webpass internet to homes and businesses across the U.S.
The Simpson Thacher team includes Eli Hunt, Keegan Lopez, Oleg Stratiev, E.R. Rolwes, David Krieghbaum, Alyssa Huang and Alison Chang (M&A); Brian Gluck, Niels Jensen, Patrick Wolff, Ryan Bekkerus, Sophie Skinner, Colin Manchester, Joseph Hahn and Diana Yen (Finance); Lori Lesser, Ron Chaim Ben-Yehuda, Christine Song and Sara Liu (IP); Deborah Gruen and Albi Kocibelli (Funds); Steve Delott (Insurance); Tristan Brown, Linda Barrett, Gillian Moldowan, Guanxiong Xu and Mtume Sangiewa (Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits); Dennis Loiacono (Real Estate); Michael Isby (Environmental); Jonathan Goldstein, Ruoxi Zhang and Jiha Min (Tax); and Karen Kazmerzak, Kelly Karapetyan, Josh Buckland, Nathaniel Bronstein, Daniel Owsley and Sarah Chaudhuri (Antitrust).