FirstLight Fiber, a fiber-optic bandwidth infrastructure services provider operating in New York and Northern New England, has announced that Oak Hill Capital Partners has completed the acquisition of FirstLight. Oak Hill acquired the company from private equity owner Riverside Partners , which is also investing in the deal and will continue as a minority investor in FirstLight. Financial terms of the completed transaction were not disclosed.

FirstLight originally started as an Albany, New York focused fiber provider and expanded through the acquisitions of segTEL in New Hampshire, TelJet in Vermont and G4 in New Hampshire. During Riverside’s investment period, FirstLight expanded its fiber route miles from 199 miles to over 2,500 miles and today operates a network of nearly 275,000 fiber miles with over 2,000 on-net locations and 14,000 near-net buildings.

The Bank Street Group LLC served as FirstLight’s exclusive financial advisor in connection with this transaction. Choate Hall & Stewart served as legal counsel to FirstLight in connection with this transaction. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP served as legal counsel to Oak Hill. TD Securities (USA) served as financial advisor to Oak Hill.

Benjy Diesbach, a Partner at Oak Hill, commented:

“The acquisition of FirstLight is a key component of Oak Hill’s strategy. FirstLight’s strong history as a leading fiber provider in the Northeast and its positive momentum were a few reasons we identified the company as an attractive platform. We welcome the opportunity to support and guide FirstLight in its next stage of growth.”

Kurt Van Wagenen, President and Chief Executive Officer of FirstLight, said:

“Oak Hill is a highly respected private equity firm, and I speak for myself as well as the other members of FirstLight in saying that we’re excited to become an Oak Hill portfolio company. Oak Hill provides the expertise and financial resources we need at this stage, and together, our potential to continue to meet our customers’ growing connectivity needs is limitless. We also thank Riverside Partners for their support and guidance along this path.”

Steven F. Kaplan, General Partner at Riverside and Chairman of FirstLight’s Board of Directors, said:

“We are extremely proud of all we have accomplished with the FirstLight management team. To have been a part of this company’s impressive growth is gratifying for Riverside Partners, and we look forward to working with Oak Hill to guide FirstLight’s next stage of growth.”