September 28 2023 | The Metropolitan Club, New York
The first annual TMT M&A Awards USA Gala Dinner took place on September 28 2023, at the Metropolitan Club New York, following TMT M&A Forum USA 2023.
Recognising the most active TMT M&A Investment Banks, Law Firms, Infrastructure Investors, Transaction Advisors, Industry CEOs and Heads of M&A, as well as individual deal categories, TMT M&A Awards USA celebrates the most significant American digital infrastructure and TMT investment and M&A transactions of the Year
Garrett Baker, Global Co-Head Telecom, Media & Entertainment Group, Lazard
Jason Tofsky, Head of Telecoms Americas Banking, Partner, Managing Director, Goldman Sachs
Madonna Park, Global Head, Communications Infrastructure Investment Banking, RBC Capital Markets
Jon Yourkoski, Head of Media and Communications M&A, Morgan Stanley
Richard S Lukaj, Senior Managing Director, Bank Street Group
Scott Wilcoxen, Managing Director, Head of Digital Infrastructure Investment Banking, J.P. Morgan
Todd Holder, Managing Director, TD Securities
Sponsored by Grain Management
Gabriel Silva, Partner, Vinson & Elkins
John Pitts, Partner, Kirkland & Ellis
Kathryn Weiss, Partner, Milbank
Kemal Hawa, Shareholder, Greenberg Traurig
Ravi Purohit, Partner, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP
Chad Crank, Managing Director, Private Equity, Grain Management
Gillis S. Cashman, Managing Partner, M/C Partners
Jasvinder Khaira, Sr. Managing Director, Blackstone
Joshua Pang, Managing Director and Head of Digital Infrastructure, Carlyle Global Infrastructure
Marc C. Ganzi, CEO, DigitalBridge
William Smales, Partner and Chief Investment Officer, H.R.L. Morrison & Co
For M&A deals announced between Jun 1, 2022 and May 31, 2023 and over $50m deal value
(In alphabetical order)
Bank of America Securities
Citi
Goldman Sachs
JPMorgan
Morgan Stanley
For M&A deals announced between Jun 1, 2022 and May 31, 2023 and over $50m deal value
(In alphabetical order)
Bank Street
Citi
Houlihan Lokey
JPMorgan
TD Securities
For M&A deals announced between Jun 1, 2022 and May 31, 2023 and over $50m deal value
Sponsored by Grain Management
(In alphabetical order)
Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom
Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz
Weil Gotshal & Manges
For M&A deals announced between Jun 1, 2022 and May 31, 2023 and over $50m deal value
(In alphabetical order)
DLA Piper
Kirkland & Ellis
Latham & Watkins
Morgan Lewis & Bockius
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
Weil Gotshal & Manges
Apollo Global Management
For deals including the US$7.5bn acquisition of Lumen Technologies and US$500m exit from Brightspeed
DigitalBridge
For deals including the US$8.4bn acquisition of Switch and the US$1.5bn recapitalization of DataBank
Grain Management
For deals including the acquisitions of AEG, FOS and Borecomm via Y-COM, plus the acquisitions of Spectrotel and Quintillion
Macquarie Asset Management
For deals including the acquisition of Pavlov Media and QScale and ODATA via Aligned
Oak Hill Capital
For deals including the acquisitions of Greenlight Networks for US$350m, Omni Fiber for US$250m and Lit Communities for US$150m
Stonepeak
For deals including the acquisitions of Cirion (Lumen LatAm) for US$2.7bn, Intrado for US$2.4bn and CoreSite for US$2.5bn
Sponsored by Grain Management
Aligned Data Centers
Boldyn Networks
Intermountain Infrastructure Group
Layer 9 Data Centers
Vantage Data Centers
Wyyerd Fiber
Altman Solon
Broadband Success Partners
EY-Parthenon
Brett Diamond, CEO and Chairman of the Board, 11:11 Systems
Craig Huffman, Co-Founder and CEO, Metro Edge
Keri Gilder, CEO, Colt
Michael C. Morey, President and CEO, Bluebird Network
Raul K. Martynek, CEO, DataBank
Scott Willis, President and CEO, DartPoints
Benjamin Judson, VP, Radius Global Infrastructure
Drew Walker, MD, Communications and Digital Infrastructure team, Berkshire Partners
Manjari Govada, Principal, Investment Management, DigitalBridge Investment Management
Matt Chambliss, SVP, Finance, Aligned Data Centers
Sida He, Vice President, Grain Management
Zachary Gellman, Principal, Investment Management, DigitalBridge Investment Management
Dominic Chan, Director, Vaquero Capital
Gabriel Silva, Partner, Vinson & Elkins
Jonathan Greenberg, Executive Director, Morgan Stanley
Michael Feres, Vice President, Bank Street Group
EdgeConneX (USA)
The sustainability-linked debt facility provided by Ares Management to EdgeConnex, at a total debt value of US$1bn.
Legal Advisors: Latham & Watkins (Lenders Counsel)
Gigapower (USA)
The financing of the joint venture between AT&T and BlackRock for greenfield fiber network build, at a total debt value of US$1.6bn.
Banks: BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, ING, Intesa Sanpaolo, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, MUFG, Natixis, NatWest, Société Générale, and Standard Chartered (Coordinating Lead Arrangers)
Legal Advisors: Latham & Watkins (Lenders Counsel) Gibson Dunn (Borrowers Counsel)
QTS (USA)
The project financing for the design and construction of a new data center campus, at a total debt value of US$1.28bn.
Banks: SMBC (Sole Coordinating Lead Arranger, Bookrunner, Green Loan Coordinator and Administrative Agent).
Legal Advisors: n/a
Scala (Brazil)
The issuance of the first green bond in the sector in Brazil to support DigitalBridge-backed Scala's expansion, at a total valuation of BRL2bn (US$378m).
Banks: Banco Bradesco BBI, Banco Itaú BBA, UBS Brasil Corretora de Câmbio, Títulos e Valores Mobiliários, Banco Santander, Banco MUFG Brasil, Deutsche Bank (Brasil)- Banco Alemão.
Legal Advisors: Stocche Forbes (Scala) Machado Meyer (Coordinators), Vinson & Elkins (Counsel)
Switch Data Centers (USA)
The debt financing package raised by DigitalBridge to support the take private acquisition and capital investment plans of Switch Data Centers, at a total value of US$6.8bn.
Banks: TD Securities (Joint Lead Arranger, Joint Bookrunner and Administrative Agent), Société Générale, Royal Bank of Canada, Citizens Bank, Truist Securities, Banco Santander, The Bank of Nova Scotia, and MUFG Bank (Joint Lead Arrangers and Joint Lead Bookrunners).
Legal Advisors: Dechert LLP (lenders counsel) Latham & Watkins (Switch counsel), Simpson Thacher & Bartlett (DigitalBridge counsel)
Bullseye Telecom (USA)
The acquisition by Lingo of cloud technology provider Bullseye Telecom, creating a company with a combined annual revenue of over US$200m.
Financial Advisors: Bank Street (Sell Side), B. Riley Securities (Buy Side)
Legal Advisors: Dykema Gossett, Klein Law (Sell Side), King & Spalding; Cahill, Gordon & Reindel (Buy Side)
Intrado (USA)
The acquisition by Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners of Intrado's Safety Business, which provides critical public emergency telecoms services, from West Technology Group for US$2.4bn.
Financial Advisors: RBC Capital Markets, LionTree Advisors (Sell Side)
Legal Advisors: Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison (Sell Side), Simpson Thacher & Bartlett (Buy Side)
Meriplex (USA)
The acquisition by Vitruvian Partners of a majority stake in managed cybersecurity, IT and SD-WAN provider Meriplex for an undisclosed amount, with existing shareholder Clairvest Group Inc. retaining a significant minority stake.
Financial Advisors: Q Advisors (Sell Side), Evercore (Buy Side)
Legal Advisors: Torys (Sell Side) Kirkland & Ellis, Jenner & Block (Buy Side)
Vonage Holdings (USA)
The take-private acquisition by Ericsson of publicly traded cloud communications company Vonage Holdings (NASDAQ: VG) for US$6.2bn.
Financial Advisors: Qatalyst Partners (Sell Side)
Legal Advisors: Weil Gotshal & Manges (Sell Side), Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (Buyside)
Xignite (USA)
The acquisition by QUODD of financial market data API provider Xignite for an undisclosed amount.
Financial Advisors: DC Advisory (Sell Side)
Legal Advisors: DLA Piper
Xoriant (USA)
The acquisition by ChrysCapital of digital IT services provider Xoriant for US$350m.
Financial Advisors: Avendus Capital (Sell Side), Ernst & Young (Buy Side)
Legal Advisors: Arnold and Porter, Khaitan & Co. (Sell Side), Sidley Austin (Buy Side)
Consolidated Communications – Wireless Assets (USA)
The acquisition by Verizon Communications of Consolidated Communications' Wireless Assets for US$490m.
Financial Advisors: Morgan Stanley (Sell Side)
Legal Advisors: Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz (Sell Side)
Pavlov Media (USA)
The acquisition by Macquarie Asset Management of Pavlov Media for an undisclosed amount.
Financial Advisors: Lazard (Sell Side), Morgan Stanley (Buy Side)
Legal Advisors: Hogan Lovells (Sell Side), Kirkland & Ellis (Buy Side)
Rise Broadband (USA)
The acquisition by GI Partners of Rise Broadband for an undisclosed amount (estimated at US$400m).
Financial Advisors: Barclays (Sell Side), Stifel (Buy Side)
Legal Advisors: Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (Sell Side), Simpson Thacher & Bartlett (Buy Side)
ZenFi Networks (USA)
The acquisition by Boldyn Networks of ZenFi Networks for an undisclosed amount (estimated at US$700m – US$1bn).
Financial Advisors: Bank Street (Sell Side), J.P. Morgan (Buy Side)
Legal Advisors: Alston & Bird (Sell Side), Latham & Watkins (Buy Side)
Diamond Communications (USA)
The equity investment into Diamond Communications by Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board, at an undisclosed valuation.
Financial Advisors: n/a
Legal Advisors: Morgan Lewis (Sell Side) Milbank (Buy Side)
Grupo TorreSur tower sale (Brazil)
The acquisition of 2,600 towers from Grupo TorreSur by SBA Communications, at a total valuation of US$725m.
Financial Advisors: J.P. Morgan (Sell Side)
Legal Advisors: Weil Gotshal & Manges (Sell Side)
Phoenix Tower International (USA)
Wren House's acquisition of a minority stake in Phoenix Tower International, at a total valuation of US$500m.
Financial Advisors: Citi (Buy Side)
Legal Advisors: Sullivan & Cromwell (Buy Side)
Tillman Global Holdings (USA)
The investment into Tillman Global Holdings (TGH) by Carlyle, valued at up to US$1bn.
Financial Advisors: TAP Advisors (Sell Side)
Legal Advisors: Sullivan and Cromwell (Sell Side) Greenberg Traurig (Buy Side)
WOM tower sale (Chile)
The acquisition of 3,800 towers from WOM by Phoenix Tower International (PTI), at a total valuation of US$930m.
Financial Advisors: Citi (Sell Side) Scotiabank (Buy Side)
Legal Advisors: Allen & Overy, Albagli Zaliasnik (Sell Side), Greenberg Traurig, Choate Hall & Stewart, Barros Silva Varela & Vigil Abogados Limitada, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett (Buy Side)
American Tower DC business (USA)
The acquisition by Stonepeak of a 29% stake in American Tower's US datacentre business, CoreSite, at a total valuation of US$2.5bn.
Financial Advisors: J.P. Morgan, CDX Advisors (Sell Side) MUFG Bank (Buy Side)
Legal Advisors: Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, Sullivan & Worcester (Sell Side) Sidley Austin (Buy Side)
DataBank (USA)
The acquisition by Swiss Life Asset Managers and EDF Invest of a 27% stake in DataBank for a total valuation of US$1.5bn.
Financial Advisors: Goldman Sachs (Sell Side) PJT Partners, DH Capital (Buy Side - Swiss Life), Credit Suisse (Buy Side - EDF Invest)
Legal Advisors: Proskauer Rose, Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz (Sell Side) Vinson & Elkins (Buy side)
EdgeCore Digital Infrastructure (USA)
The acquisition by Partners Group of EdgeCore Digital Infrastructure at a total valuation of US$1.2bn.
Financial Advisors: RBC Capital Markets, Ernst & Young (Sell Side) KPMG (Buy Side)
Legal Advisors: Greenberg Traurig (Sell Side) Latham and Watkins, Clifford Chance, Ropes & Gray (Buy Side)
Nabiax (USA & Latin America Various)
The acquisition by Actis of 11 datacentre assets across the US and Latin America from Nabiax at a total valuation of US$500m.
Financial Advisor: Greenhill & Co (Sell Side) BBVA (Buy Side)
Legal Advisors: Clifford Chance (Sell Side) Linklaters, Pinheiro Neto Advogados (Buy Side)
ODATA (Brazil)
The acquisition by Macquarie Asset Management-backed Aligned of ODATA for an undisclosed sum (estimate between US$1.6bn and US$2bn).
Financial Advisors: Evercore, DH Capital (Sell Side) Guggenheim Securities, J.P. Morgan (Buy Side)
Legal Advisors: Vinson & Elkins (Buy Side) Proskauer Rose, Pinheiro Neto (Sell Side)
Switch (USA)
The take private acquisition by DigitalBridge and IFM Investors of Switch for a total valuation of US$11bn including debt.
Financial Advisors: Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley (Sell Side) RBC Capital Markets, TD Securities (Buy Side)
Legal Advisors: Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, White & Case (Sell Side) Latham & Watkins, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Vinson & Elkins (Buy Side)
Cirion (Latin America Various)
The acquisition by Stonepeak of Lumen Technologies' LATAM unit, Cirion, at a total valuation of US$2.7bn.
Financial Advisors: Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Citi, Goldman Sachs (Sell Side), Lazard, JPMorgan (Buy Side)
Legal Advisors: Jones Walker (Sell Side) Simpson Thacher & Bartlett (Buy Side)
FiberLight (USA)
The acquisition by H.R.L. Morrison & Co of FiberLight at a total valuation of US$1bn.
Financial Advisors: Bank Street (Sell Side), TD Securities (Buy Side)
Legal Advisors: Taft (Sell Side), Torys, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius (Buy Side)
Gigapower (USA)
The joint venture between AT&T and BlackRock to form wholesale open access internet service provider Gigapower (estimated value at up to US$15bn).
Financial Advisor: Morgan Stanley (Sell Side)
Technical Advisor: Broadband Success Partners (Buy Side)
Lumen Technologies (USA)
The acquisition by Apollo Global Management of Lumen Technologies' incumbent local Exchange carrier assets at a total valuation of US$7.5bn.
Financial Advisors: Citi, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley (Sell Side) Mizuho, LionTree, Barclays, Credit Suisse (Buy Side)
Legal Advisors: Jones Walker (Sell Side) Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison (lead legal counsel), Jenner & Block, Morgan Lewis & Bockius (regulatory counsel) (Buy Side)
Technical Advisors: Altman Solon (Buy Side)
Shaw Communications (Canada)
The acquisition by Rogers Communications of Shaw Communications at a total valuation of US$20.5bn.
Financial Advisors: TD Securities, CIBC World Markets (Sell Side) BofA Securities, Barclays (Buy Side)
Legal Advisors: Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg; Wachtell, Lipton Rosen & Katz; Burnet, Duckworth & Palmer, Dentons Canada (Sell Side) Goodmans, Torys, Cravath Swaine & Moore (Buy Side)
ZenFi Networks (USA)
The acquisition by BAI Communications of ZenFi Networks for an undisclosed amount (estimate between US$700m – US$1bn).
Financial Advisors: Bank Street (Sell Side), J.P. Morgan (Buy Side)
Legal Advisors: Alston & Bird (Sell Side), Latham & Watkins (Buy Side)
“We are delighted to accept this award for TMT M&A Adviser of the year on behalf of both our TMT and M&A teams and our amazing clients. It’s been an incredible year and it’s been a privilege to work with you on so many exciting deals.”
Global Head of TMT, Investment Bank
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