Starting off Q3 strong, Zayo Group files for IPO

by Carlin Sack
July 6, 2014

Bandwidth Infrastructure service provider Zayo Group filed for a $100 million IPO this week, the Wall Street Journal reported without comment from the Boulder-based company. It’s likely the IPO would raise up to $500 million, according to Renaissance Capital.

An IPO has been seriously considered by CEO Dan Caruso and his team since about 2011. Instead Zayo took an additional $470 million in funding in 2012, which continued to fuel something the Wall Street Journal calls a “seven-year-long shopping spree,” aka a series of strategic acquisitions. This week, in fact, is just the type of week that proves how quickly the company has been making moves.

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Zayo's string of acquisitions

Zayo Group announced the of acquisition data center and managed services provider AtlantaNAP in an undisclosed deal this week. This added Atlanta location gives Zayo’s colocation division, zColo, another 72,000 square feet of data center space; now, Zayo has a total of 28 data centers in over 20 US markets.

Also Zayo announced the acquisition of Paris-based Bandwidth Infrastructure company Neo Telecoms this week. Neo gives Zayo 300 route miles of Paris dark fiber, over 500 on-net buildings, nine colocation facilities and another 36,000 square feet of data center space. This comes just after Zayo’s acquisition of Geo Networks in May, which gave Zayo over 2,100 additional route miles to add to its already extensive European network.

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Keeping a Colorado base

While Zayo is growing quickly in other markets (the 1,500-person company is planning on hiring about 150 over the next year), it is also deepening its base here in Colorado. Last month, Zayo announced the August opening of its fourth Colorado office: a 24,000-square foot in LoDo that will accommodate about 125 of Zayo’s 400 Colorado employees.

Zayo is known for keeping its Colorado employees in Louisville, Boulder and Greenwood Village happy with their fun office spaces and an active company culture. (The team even leaves early on some Fridays for team fitness events.) Strengthening the company’s Colorado roots is one of Zayo’s biggest priorities as the state continues to gain international attention for its innovation in telecommunications and other industries.

“Colorado’s telecommunications industry continues to be a significant driver of our state’s economy,” Caruso said in a statement last month. “Colorado is growing as a key geographical hub of technology and innovation.”

Jobs at Zayo

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