UFD agrees to sell virtually all of its assets, YDR Options

[dangum]

United Fiber & Data agrees to sell virtually all of its assets to a New York company
Mike Argento
York Daily Record
June 11, 2024

United Fiber & Data, a York-based company formed by former members of the rock band Live to build a fiber-optic network in the northeast, has signed an agreement to sell its network, essentially all of it assets, to a New York-based company that operates a network of fiber optic lines that stretch from Boston to Chicago to Dallas and to Miami, according to a news release.

The company, Lightpath, will complete the deal for UFD's network in the third quarter of this year, according to the company's press release. The value of the deal was not disclosed in the release.

The release describes the deal as "a definitive agreement to acquire substantially all of the assets of United Fiber & Data."

What this means for UFD's future is unclear. The company did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The company, as well as other enterprises involving former Live members, has been beset with lawsuits and legal difficulties in the past few years. Its former CEO, Bill Hynes, is facing charges of stealing more than $4 million from the company.

UFD's project was touted as an economic bonanza, promising to create 300 jobs in York and generate billions in tax revenue while building a high-tech center in York, creating a kind of Silicon Valley centered in a formerly blighted neighborhood in the city’s heart. That never materialized.

Under the deal, according to the release, Lightpath will acquire UFD's 323-mile network connecting New York City to Ashburn, Virginia, and its 79-mile network in New York and New Jersey.

Lightpath's CEO, Chris Morley, was quoted in the news release saying, "The addition United Fiber & Data is a natural extension of Lightpath's expansive Greater New York City Metropolitan fiber assets, increasing our ability to serve high-capacity customer needs into the Ashburn data center ecosystem and further enhancing our Manhattan metro coverage where we will serve nearly 1,500 enterprise and data center destinations, a 5x increase over the past 3 years. This represents a continuation of Lightpath's strategic investment thesis of creating critical fiber infrastructure in attractive and high growth markets for the benefit of our Enterprise, Hyperscale, and Wholesale customers."

Lightpath did not immediately respond to queries for comment.

Chad Taylor, guitarist and founding member of UFD, said in a statement, that the "surprise exit can be awarded to the wide range of people who sacrificed and endeavored to build our disruptive data network - including our customers. The vision of our founders - when coupled with the executive team and staff - yielded a collective victory in an industry where start-ups fail at an extraordinary rate. Mission accomplished." Taylor also acknowledged the support the company received from the late Louis Appell Jr. and his family, who invested in UFD.

Lightpath is co-owned by Altice USA, a cable TV provider headquartered in New York which owns 50.01 percent of the company, and Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners, which owns the remainder.

https://www.ydr.com/story/news/2024/06/11/u...ve/74056746007/