Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Integra Telecom Buys Eschelon Telecom

Portland, Oregon-based Integra Telecom, a provider of local, long distance, and Internet services for businesses, said today that it is in a $710M deal to purchase Eschelon Telecom. The deal is worth $30 per share of Eschelon Telecom stock, and includes $144M in repayment of Eschelon debt. The acquisition is being funded by $1.2B in capital from Deutsche Bank Securities, Morgan Stanley Senior Funding, and CIBC. Eschelon provides telecom services in Minnesota, Arizona, Utah, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Nevada, Montana and California. Integra is venture backed by Bank of America Capital Partners, Boston Ventures and Nautic Equity Partners.