Houlihan Lokey Advises GCM Grosvenor

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that Horizon Telecom (Horizon), a portfolio company of GCM Grosvenor, has been acquired by Shenandoah Telecommunications Company for $385 million. Consideration consisted of $305 million in cash and $80 million of Shentel common stock. Houlihan Lokey served as the financial advisor to GCM Grosvenor. This transaction further solidifies Houlihan Lokey's deep expertise in fiber broadband.

Horizon is a leading commercial fiber provider in Ohio and adjacent states, serving national wireless providers, carriers, enterprises, government, education, and healthcare customers. Horizon’s unique 7,200 route-mile fiber network is the largest and most dense network across its footprint, with more than 9,000 on-net locations. Approximately 64% of Horizon’s revenues are derived from its commercial customers. Based in Chillicothe, Ohio, Horizon was founded in 1895 as the incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) in Ross County, Ohio, and rapidly expanded its fiber network over the past 14 years. Most recently, Horizon has pursued a strategy of investing in fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) in tier 3 and tier 4 markets in Ohio and currently passes 14,000 homes and businesses with fiber in its ILEC market and 18,000 homes in new, greenfield markets adjacent to its commercial fiber network.

Shentel provides broadband services through its high-speed, state-of-the-art cable and fiber optic networks to customers in the Mid-Atlantic United States. The company’s services include broadband internet, video, and voice; fiber optic Ethernet, wavelength and leasing; and tower colocation leasing. The company owns an extensive regional network with more than 9,000 route miles of fiber and over 220 macro cellular towers.

“The acquisition of Horizon is a transformative transaction that we believe will allow us to accelerate our Fiber First strategy by doubling the size of our commercial fiber business and creating a new beachhead for our Glo Fiber business. We expect to pass 150,000 additional homes with fiber in greenfield markets by the end of 2026,” said Shentel’s President and CEO, Christopher E. French. “We are excited to combine Horizon’s robust fiber network and commercial fiber business with our 9,000 route-mile, multi-state fiber network and accelerate our Glo Fiber expansion. Horizon and Shentel share a similar history and a passion for outstanding local customer service while providing state-of-the-art technologies. We believe our teams’ core competencies will complement one another, translating to a stronger combined business.”

Horizon CEO Jim Capuano added, “We are proud of the success Horizon has experienced in partnership with Novacap and GCM Grosvenor over the past five years, building a leading broadband company in Ohio. The transaction with Shentel creates an exciting opportunity for our customers and the communities we serve to continue to receive best-in-quality broadband service and an opportunity for our employees to continue to be integral contributors to a leading super-regional provider.”

GCM Grosvenor Managing Director James DiMola said, “We are excited about the prospects of combining the Shentel and Horizon businesses and see significant operational, strategic, and financial merit in the combination. The opportunity to participate as a shareholder in Shentel’s growth strategy is highly attractive and was critical to our support of the transaction.”

GCM Grosvenor (NASDAQ:GCMG) is a global alternative asset management solutions provider with approximately $76 billion in assets under management across private equity, infrastructure, real estate, credit, and absolute return investment strategies. The firm has specialized in alternatives for more than 50 years and is dedicated to delivering value for clients by leveraging its cross-asset class and flexible investment platform.

GCM Grosvenor’s experienced team of approximately 530 professionals serves a global client base of institutional and high-net-worth investors. The firm is headquartered in Chicago, with offices in New York, Toronto, London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Seoul, and Sydney.

Houlihan Lokey served as the financial advisor to GCM Grosvenor.

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