Fiber Optics

Private equity firm acquires Xtera to improve subsea fiber-optic business

Feb. 24, 2017

H.I.G. Capital has acquired the assets of sub-sea fiber-optic telecom solutions provider Xtera Communications.

Global private equity investment firm H.I.G. Capital (London, England) has acquired substantially all the assets of sub-sea fiber-optic telecom solutions provider Xtera Communications (Allen, TX and Harold Wood, Essex, England). H.I.G. previously provided debtor-in-possession financing to the Xtera debtors in connection with the chapter 11 case.

Xtera supplies un-repeatered and repeatered sub-sea systems using high-performance optical amplifiers to carry data over optical fiber. Under H.I.G.'s ownership, Xtera's management and technical team will remain at the helm of the business, focused on successfully executing key existing customer contracts and expanding the business in the rapidly growing markets it serves with a clear roadmap of product launches.

Carl Harring, managing director at H.I.G. Capital, said, "We believe Xtera has considerable growth potential as an independent, well-funded business with a new ownership structure. Its world class IP protected technology is not only differentiated and superior to that of its competitors, but it is delivered to an impressive range of global clients at a cost-effective price point. We are excited to be working with this industry-leading team and our immediate focus will be to work with them to deliver and build on existing contracts and over the long-term, provide the financial support to enable the company to fully capitalise on its technology with a broader base of customers."

Stuart Barnes, founder of Xtera,added, "We are delighted to announce our new partnership with H.I.G. Capital, which has previously invested in the fiber-optics sector and has a proven understanding of how to grow specialist industrial suppliers into market-leading players. We share the same vision of strengthening Xtera's footprint in the future."

This investment follows H.I.G.'s recent successful sale to Humanetics of Fibercore, a UK-based designer and manufacturer of specialty optical fiber. Under H.I.G.'s ownership Fibercore grew from a niche producer into a world leading provider of optical fiber to a range of high tech industries. H.I.G. acquired Fibercore from Cisco, in a carve-out transaction back in 2011.

SOURCE: Xtera; http://www.xtera.com

About the Author

Gail Overton | Senior Editor (2004-2020)

Gail has more than 30 years of engineering, marketing, product management, and editorial experience in the photonics and optical communications industry. Before joining the staff at Laser Focus World in 2004, she held many product management and product marketing roles in the fiber-optics industry, most notably at Hughes (El Segundo, CA), GTE Labs (Waltham, MA), Corning (Corning, NY), Photon Kinetics (Beaverton, OR), and Newport Corporation (Irvine, CA). During her marketing career, Gail published articles in WDM Solutions and Sensors magazine and traveled internationally to conduct product and sales training. Gail received her BS degree in physics, with an emphasis in optics, from San Diego State University in San Diego, CA in May 1986.