Along with Macquarie Capital, GCM Grosvenor agreed to purchase Alaska Communications Systems Group in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $300 million.
GCM Grosvenor’s investment is through its Labor Impact Fund, which raised nearly $900 million as of early September.
“GCM’s Labor Impact Fund provides strategic value to our business both through its experience in the telecommunications sector and in fostering partnerships with a unionized workforce,” said Bill Bishop, president and CEO of Alaska Communications. “We firmly believe this transaction will allow us to enhance our expanded fiber network services and drive long-term value for our customers in Alaska and the Lower 48.”
The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2021 and essentially takes the company private. Macquarie and GCM acquire all the outstanding shares of the company’s common stock for $3.00 per share in cash, which is a 57% premium over the stock’s $1.91 per share price on November 2.
Chicago-based GCM Grosvenor has $57 billion in assets under management in private equity, infrastructure, real estate, credit, absolute return strategies, and multi-asset class opportunistic investments.
GCM Grosvenor’s Labor Impact Fund, L.P., seeks to originate and execute infrastructure projects that leverage the inclusion of union labor as a contributing factor to enabling attractive risk-adjusted returns. The goal of the strategy is to find attractive infrastructure investment opportunities that can be unlocked through close cooperation across labor, government, and private capital.
