InstarAGF Asset Management Buys LS Power
Posted on 10/17/2020
Canadian institutional investors heart U.S. infrastructure. InstarAGF Asset Management Inc. inked a deal to buy Portland, Oregon-based LS Networks, a fiber-optic bandwidth infrastructure services provider in the Pacific Northwest. The sellers are a collective of Oregon rural electric cooperatives. The transaction is expected to close in early 2021.
LS Networks delivers fiber connectivity to large and small commercial and individual customers in rural and urban communities. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, loan funds from the USDA Rural Electrification Administration (REA) enabled construction of rural electric cooperatives throughout the nation to serve the people and growing economies of rural America. LS Networks is owned by more than 60,000 citizen shareholders of four rural Oregon electric cooperatives.
LS Networks – Shareholders
Hood River Electric Cooperative
Columbia Broadband is a wholly owned subsidiary of West Oregon Electric Cooperative (WOEC)
Rural Services Company (holding company of Umatilla Electric Cooperative)
CEC Resources, Inc. (holding company of Central Electric Cooperative)
Advisors
LS Networks was advised on the transaction by Stifel and Davis Wright Tremaine LLP. InstarAGF was advised by Wells Fargo Securities, LLC and DLA Piper LLP.
Launched in 2014, InstarAGF Asset Management Inc. is a joint venture between Instar Group Inc. and AGF Management Limited.
Oilfield Water Logistics
On October 28, 2019, InstarAGF Asset Management acquired Oilfield Water Logistics, LLC (OWL) alongside its Canadian and international co-investors from NGP Energy Capital Management and NGP Energy Technology Partners and other private shareholders. Oilfield Water Logistics was formed in 2014, providing long-term stability and volume predictability for its exploration and production (E&P) customers. OWL is a midstream water infrastructure and services business. OWL operates the largest commercial produced water gathering and transportation system in the Northern Delaware Basin. InstarAGF was advised by Scotiabank and King & Spalding LLP on the transaction. OWL was advised by Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and Thompson & Knight LLP.