Arma Partners has acted as exclusive financial adviser to the shareholder of Geo Networks, a London-based dark fibre provider, on the company’s sale to Zayo Group, an international provider of bandwidth infrastructure.
Founded in 2002 by Jonathan Watts and Chris Smedley, Geo owns and operates a high capacity fibre network in the UK, providing managed networks, dark fibre and co-location services to a variety of high-bandwidth sectors including media companies, service providers, financial services, data centres and gaming organisations. Geo is the only company in the UK to focus solely on the design, build and operation of bespoke dedicated fibre network solutions.
Based in Boulder, Colorado, Zayo provides bandwidth infrastructure services in over 300 markets throughout the US and Europe. Zayo delivers a full suite of lit services and dark fibre products to wireline and wireless customers, data centres, internet content providers, high-bandwidth enterprises, and government agencies across its robust 77,000 route mile network. The company also offers 27 carrier-neutral colocation facilities across the US.
The Geo acquisition will significantly increase Zayo’s fibre footprint in the UK, adding over 1,800 miles of national fibre connecting 130 data centres, telehouses and key internet exchanges. It will also provide direct access to major cities including Manchester, Birmingham and other significant commercial regions.
