NewWave Getting New Owners

GTCR, a private equity firm, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire NewWave Communications from Pamlico Capital. The acquisition will be completed through GTCR's previously established partnership with Rural Broadband Investments.NewWave passes approximately 250,000 homes and serves more than 90,000 customers in rural Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Arkansas. RBI has further plans to acquire 300,000-400,000 cable subscribers in small-to-mid sized rural markets."The acquisition of NewWave Communications is a great first step and provides us with an excellent platform to build upon," said Phil Spencer, CEO of RBI. "NewWave has done an outstanding job upgrading its network, moving to DOCSIS 3.0 and constructing fiber to tie their markets together. These efforts give us an outstanding platform to roll out enhanced video, voice and high-speed Internet services as well as advanced commercial services. In addition, NewWave has an outstanding employee base, and we plan to continue to build on the great work they have done over the last several years."