Houlihan Lokey Advises Stratus Networks

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that Stratus Networks, Inc., has been acquired by Novacap Management Inc. to form a new partnership to support the company’s continued growth and expansion of its fiber footprint across Illinois. The transaction closed on December 16, 2021.

Based in Peoria, Illinois, and founded by Co-CEOs John Petrakis and Kevin Morgan in 1998, Stratus has grown to become a leading data and voice network services provider for enterprises across Central Illinois. Since inception, Stratus has invested in and built superior network, product offering, ancillary services, partnerships, and proprietary operational systems in order to deliver the best available service to its customers. The company owns, leases, and operates a fiber network spanning across Illinois to provide a full suite of products, including data, cloud, and voice solutions serving nearly 1,000 diversified enterprise customers primarily across the financial services, healthcare, and telecom industries.

Founded in 1981, Novacap is a leading North American private equity firm with over C$8 billion of AUM that has invested in more than 100 platform companies and completed more than 150 add-on acquisitions. Applying its sector-focused approach since 2007 in TMT, industries, digital infrastructure, and now financial services, Novacap's deep domain expertise can accelerate company growth and create long-term value. With experienced, dedicated investment and operations teams as well as substantial capital, Novacap has the resources and knowledge that help build world-class businesses. Novacap has offices in Brossard, Québec, and Toronto, Ontario.

Through this acquisition, Novacap will be partnering with Stratus to create significant value for the company through funding organic growth initiatives in order to better serve Stratus’ existing customer base as well as add to the scope and breadth of the platform. Additionally, Novacap brings strategic, operational, and financial expertise as well as the resources necessary to pursue potential strategic M&A opportunities throughout the greater Midwest region. John Petrakis and Kevin Morgan will continue in their roles as Co-CEOs leading Stratus and remain significant shareholders in the business.

Houlihan Lokey served as the exclusive financial advisor to Stratus Networks.