A Houston-based corporate team at Simpson Thacher Bartlett advised KKR this week on the creation of a joint venture with T-Mobile to acquire Metronet and its broadband infrastructure.
The transaction is expected to close in 2025, at which time T-Mobile is expected to invest approximately $4.9 billion to acquire a 50% equity stake in the JV and 100% of Metronet’s residential fiber retail operations and customers, as well as funding of the JV. Metronet’s customer base includes more than two million customers across 17 states.
The Simpson Thacher corporate team was led by partners Breen Haire and Shamus Crosby, and associates David Bumgardner, Mark Kunzman, Braxton Duhon, Christine Robb, Jacob Bryant, Andrew Waldeck and Jack Davis — all of whom are based in Houston.
The team also included partner Nancy Mehlman and Associate Shareef Salfity (tax); counsel Ron Ben-Yehuda (Los Angeles), and associates Bobbie Burrows and Riley Morrow (IP); partner David Rubinsky and counsel Linda Barrett (benefits and compensation); partner Toby Chun (Washington, D.C.) and associate Noreen Lavan (Environmental); senior counsel Krista McManus, counsel Dennis Loiacono, and associates Richard Starik and Yael Golan (real estate); partner Peter Guryan and associate Jamie Logie (antitrust); and partners John Schueller, Brian Steinhardt, Jennifer Albrecht, Marisa Stavenas and Brian Rosenzweig (Houston), and associates Constantine Valettas and Angelica Varona (finance). All attorneys are based in New York unless otherwise noted.
Based in Evansville, Indiana, Metronet is one of the largest pure play internet providers in the nation, and as part of the transaction, the joint venture will also acquire the existing stake owned by Oak Hill Capital. Oak Hill, in turn, intends to reinvest in a minority position in Metronet. The company’s founder, John Cinelli, will also retain a minority position.
Haire and Crosby have a history with KKR. The two advised the global investment firm earlier this year in their $870 million renewable energy investment in Labrador Island Link and KKR’s investment last year in Port Arthur LNG.
In May, Haire also advised KKR in its participation in the $2 billion carbon capture joint venture CarbonCount; in January, its purchase of cell towers in Latin America from Millicom International, and in August 2023, KKR’s acquisition of a majority interest in PangeaCo and the existing fiber optic networks of Telefónica del Perú and Entel Perú.
In April, Haire was also named — with Matthew Einbinder and Christopher May — as a managing partner of Simpson Thacher’s Houston office.