Home Care In Morrison, CO

Morrison & Co's consortium has finalized its acquisition of FiberLight.

The consortium, led by funds managed by global infrastructure investment firm H.R.L. Morrison & Co, Australian Retirement Trust (ART), and a managed client of UBS Asset Management, announced the finalization last week.

The deal was confirmed on April 20, with FiberLight naming Bill Major as its new CEO, effective immediately.

The deal to acquire FiberLight from Thermo Companies was first agreed in June of last year, with Bloomberg reporting that the value of the transaction is worth about $1 billion, including debt, although this has not been publicly disclosed.

Founded in 2005, FiberLight designs, builds, and deploys high bandwidth networks, and has approximately 18,000 route miles of fiber networks and 78,000 pre-qualified near-net buildings, while the company operates in over 30 metropolitan areas in the US, with a particular focus in Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Texas, Virginia, and Washington DC.

FiberLight notes that the acquisition will provide it with the increased financial flexibility to invest in strategic builds and expand its current lit and dark fiber optical networks, including cross-border connectivity that supports international trade.

The firm also said it will focus on developing new fiber assets, building diverse routes, and adding resiliency and redundancy to networks to ensure critical uptime for customers.

Major, the new FiberLight CEO, joins the company from Everstream Solutions where he was CEO and president.

“Bill is a proven executive who brings a wealth of infrastructure knowledge, telecommunications experience, and transformative leadership capabilities to FiberLight as the company builds its team and expands its footprint,” said Perry Offutt, partner and head of North America at Morrison & Co and chairperson of FiberLight’s board of directors.

“He is a purposeful change-maker with a customer-first approach and is the ideal individual to lead the company forward in pursuit of continued growth and scale. On behalf of the consortium, we look forward to partnering with Bill and the FiberLight team to broaden and enhance essential connectivity services to businesses across the US," Offutt added.

Major isn't the only high-profile appointment at the company, as Peter Gallagher has been appointed COO, having helped support Morrison & Co in the planning and development of FiberLight’s transformation program since September 2022.

His role at FiberLight will involve him overseeing the scaling of the company's operations. He previously held positions at Telstra, Megaport, and Verizon Business, according to his LinkedIn.

Australia-based packaging and recycling company Pact Group has announced completing the sale of a 50% stake in its Crate Pooling business to Morrison & Co.

Pact will receive A$160m ($106m) in cash proceeds from the sale net of costs and tax with an additional earn-out potential of A$20m, translating to an enterprise value of A$380m for the business.

The latest announcement comes a few months after Pact signed the initial deal to sell 50% of its Crate Pooling business segment to Morrison & Co.

The companies have now set up a new joint venture (JV), with the Crate Pooling business rebranded as Viscount Reuse.

Viscount will operate as an independent entity and will primarily focus on expediting the growth of the businesses in the Australian and New Zealand markets.

At present, according to Pact, Viscount owns and manages an asset pool of reusable and recyclable plastic packaging crates.

The new entity is also under contract with several grocery groups such as Aldi Australia, Woolworths, and New Zealand’s Foodstuffs.

Apart from supplying crates, the JV manufactures and provides bins for fresh food and automated supply chain uses.

Former Pact Reuse executive general manager and pending Viscount CEO Wayne Williams said: “We are excited about the future for Viscount Reuse and the growth that this new JV partnership will bring to existing and future customers who are committed to operating fresh produce supply chains more efficiently and sustainably.”

The companies have also opened a new service facility in Auckland, New Zealand, to further expand the new business and bolster its wash and distribution facilities network in the region.

This facility will help in keeping the crates moving in a closed-loop system between suppliers, retailer distribution centres, and supermarkets, to further minimise waste.

Designed to be used approximately 140 times, these crates serve as a sustainable alternative to single-use cardboard and polystyrene boxes.

Morrison partner Mark Mudie said: “Our investment in Viscount Reuse provides an opportunity for our investors to gain access to an experienced circular economy operator that enables customers to achieve their sustainability targets while improving product quality.”

Tishman Speyer, TR Property Investment Trust, St Modwen Logistics, Gresham House, AEW, UK Commercial Property REIT, atNorth, Allsop, Long Harbour, Panattoni, Tritax, ARA Dunedin, Morrison & Co, Brookfield

Morrison & Co – Melissa Richards has joined the global infrastructure investment firm as a partner and head of strategy, product and growth. Based in New York, Richards will oversee Morrison & Co’s global strategy as the firm continues to expand its footprint for the benefit of its global institutional investor clients. Richards has over 15 years of private markets experience, working across infrastructure, real estate, private equity and credit on behalf of both institutional and private wealth clients. She was most recently SVP and head of product strategy and client solutions at Brookfield Oaktree Wealth Solutions in New York. Prior to that she was Brookfield’s head of infrastructure project management. Prior to her tenure at Brookfield Asset Management, she served as executive director and infrastructure fund portfolio specialist at Morgan Stanley. Earlier in her career, she served as VP of corporate foreign exchange sales at BNP Paribas.

Tishman Speyer – Adrian Lee will join the firm’s recently-established Singapore office as senior director of acquisitions. In his new role, Lee will source and execute new investment opportunities across a wide range of asset classes in Asia Pacific, including the office, retail, industrial, life sciences and multi-family sectors. Lee most recently served as director, head of investments and asset management at AEW in Asia, Prior to AEW, Lee had served as head of real estate investments at Homax, and director and portfolio manager at UBS Asset Management. He also held leading investment positions at PGIM Real Estate and Union Investment. Lee will report to managing director, Graham Mackie, who was appointed in June 2022 to spearhead Tishman Speyer’s Asia Pacific expansion beyond its operations in China and India.

TR Property Investment Trust – Senior independent director Kate Bolsover will succeed David Watson who is retiring as chairman following TR Property’s annual general meeting in July this year. Tim Gillbanks will become the senior independent director. Bolsover joined TR Property’s board in 2019. Her executive career was at Cazenove and JP Morgan Cazenove where she was managing director of the mutual fund business, and latterly director of corporate communications. She is currently chairman of Fidelity Asian Values Trust and a director at Bellevue Healthcare Trust. She is also a non-executive director of Baille Gifford & Co. Busola Sodeinde has been appointed to the board as an independent non-executive director. Sodeinde is a non-executive director of Hargreave Hale AIM VCT and at Ombudsman Services; she is also a board member of the Church Commissioners for England and a trustee of The Scouts Association. Until 2019 she was managing director/CFO at State Street Global Markets EMEA, prior to which she was a director in corporate finance at Deutsche Bank Capital Markets. More recently she has founded two digital content platforms: Bearings Point Media, a digital publishing firm, and DySH, a knowledge and social platform.

Gresham House – Mike Adams and Burak Varisli have joined the business as managing director of real estate, and investment director of housing, respectively. Adams and Varisli, working alongside the existing team, will seek to further diversify and strengthen the investment capability in this area with a particular focus on retirement living, shared ownership and affordable build-to-rent. Adams brings more than 30 years’ investment experience in real estate investment. In 2005, he co-founded specialist asset manager MedicX. Adams also served as CEO of Octopus Healthcare before assuming the role of chairman in 2018. Varisli oversaw Assettrust Housing Limited’s corporate finance activities in the mid-2000s. Varisli spent more than eight years in advisory roles at JLL and Avison Young, holding director-level positions.

Long Harbour – The specialist real estate investment, development, and management firm has appointed Jack Spearman to lead its single-family housing platform, which will target investing in residential assets across the UK. Spearman joined Long Harbour in 2009 and is a partner at the firm, having led the origination and execution team for the UK secured income programme.

St Modwen Logistics – The UK logistics manager has appointed Gordon Kellie to the newly created role of head of portfolio. Kellie, who has over 30 years’ experience in the real estate sector, will join in June from ARA Dunedin, the UK arm of APAC real estate fund manager ESR group, where he spent twenty years. Kellie will lead the asset and property management teams and work closely with Polly Troughton, managing director.

Panattoni – The logistics real estate developer has appointed Scott Meakin as a development surveyor to work on projects across the north of England. Meakin has joined from Tritax Symmetry, the logistics development arm of Tritax Big Box REIT. Based in the Manchester office with a focus on the North West and Yorkshire, he will be supporting the growth of developments and strengthening the ongoing speculative programme. Meakin previously worked for more than three years as a surveyor at Avison Young.

UK Commercial Property REIT – Peter Pereira Gray has been appointed non-executive director to succeed Ken McCullagh. McCullagh, who has served on the board for over ten years, and as chair for three years, intend to retire as a director later this year. Gray will be put forward for election to the board at the company’s AGM on 21 June 2023 and will take over as chair later this year. Gray served Wellcome Trust’s Investments team from February 2001, initially as head of property investment and latterly as co-lead of the investment division in the role of managing partner and CEO from September 2017 to his recent retirement from executive duties in September 2022. Previously Gray was a director of property fund management with Prudential Portfolio Managers, and before that, an adviser with Drivers Jonas, Chartered Surveyors. He is chair of Urban&Civic, and of Premier Marinas Holdings. He is a fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and the Royal Society of Arts and was the independent lead for the RICS Review of Investment Property Valuations published in January 2022.

atNorth – The data services company has appointed Wayne Allen as US sales director. Allen has over 30 years of experience in the data centre, colocation and technology industry at several organisations in the US. He was part of the founding team at Digital Realty Trust.

Allsop – The UK property consultant has announced 19 promotions including four new partners, with Michael Linane, Liam Dowdell and Damian Keeling appointed as equity partners and Richard Gale promoted to salaried partner. Linane, who started his career with Allsop 23 years ago in the residential auction team and later transitioned into residential transactional and living markets, specialises in residential investment and development, including working in the affordable and social impact sub-sectors and handling deals involving large residential portfolios. Dowdell, who joined Allsop in 2021 following 17 years with Savills’ residential valuation team, has extensive residential development and investment expertise, including alternative investment markets. Keeling has also been with Allsop since 2021, having joined the residential valuation team after 14 years with Savills. Gale joined Allsop in January 2021 to bolster the team’s expertise in industrial capital markets, working closely with clients including Mileway, Logicor and M7. Vicky Bingham, Ciaran McGivney, Oliver Murley, Tom Nicoll, Archie Stead, and Sam Verity have been named senior associates. Antonia Beech, Olivia Bentley, Will Greasley, Charlotte Hawthorne, Evie Higgs, and Becky Swinburn have been appointed associates, and Siobhan Badman, Freddie Foley and Josh Ware have been appointed senior surveyors as part of 2023 promotions.

Dozens of people were injured by hailstones the size of apples that pelted concertgoers in Colorado on Wednesday night, with at least seven needing hospital treatment following the powerful storm.

Witnesses described the onslaught, at a concert by the former One Direction singer Louis Tomlinson at the Red Rocks amphitheater in Morrison, west of Denver, as “straight out of a horror movie”.

Video of the hailstorm was posted to social media showing people racing to take shelter and others covering their heads with boxes taken from merchandise stands. “I have bruises and welts all over my back and legs,” concert attendee Jess Thompson wrote in a post.

Another concertgoer, identified by the Denver Gazette as Nicole, posted a similar account: “It started pelting people with hail … and I luckily found shelter under a sign. I am bleeding and have huge bumps on my head from the hail.”

In a statement posted to Twitter, the West Metro Fire fire department said: “Seven people [were] transported to area hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries. A total of 80 to 90 people [were] treated on scene. Injuries include cuts and broken bones.”

Officials canceled the concert out of fear for public safety and British singer Tomlinson posted to Twitter his concern for those affected or injured.

“Devastated about the show tonight, hope everyone’s ok, I’ll be back! Even though we didn’t play the show I felt all of your passion! Sending you all love!” he wrote.

Organizers advised those who could to seek shelter in their vehicles as the storm began, the Gazette reported, with some returning to their cars to find the windshields shattered.

The newspaper said loudspeaker announcements advised people to come back to the amphitheater after receiving an all-clear, only for a second wave of hail to send them running for cover again less than an hour later. Officials canceled the concert at that point.

Image Credit: FiberLight

A consortium led by funds managed by H.R.L. Morrison & Co, a premier global infrastructure investment firm focused on the digital and renewables sectors, and including Australian Retirement Trust (ART) and a managed client of UBS Asset Management, announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire FiberLight, a leading fiber infrastructure provider with more than 20 years of experience building and operating mission-critical, high-bandwidth networks, from Thermo Companies.

The investment will accelerate FiberLight’s network expansion, positioning it to take advantage of the rapidly growing fiber infrastructure market.

Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, FiberLight is a pure-play, top-ten, high bandwidth fiber infrastructure provider in the U.S. The FiberLight network comprises approximately 18,000 route miles of fiber infrastructure, servicing customers in over 30 metropolitan areas, principally in the major markets of Texas and the Northern Virginia area, the largest data center market in the world. The company builds, owns and operates state-of-the-art, high-capacity networks and has a proven track record of execution for domestic and international wireless, wireline, cable, and hyperscale cloud providers as well as leading enterprise, government, and educational clients. FiberLight’s seasoned management team, led by Chief Executive Officer Christopher Rabii, will continue to lead the business through its next phase of growth and development.

Building on its 30+ year track record of infrastructure investing, Morrison & Co’s investment in FiberLight marks its first investment in the North American digital infrastructure market and third in the North American market, following investments in Longroad Energy and Clearvision Ventures, as the firm expands its boots on the ground presence in the region. Morrison & Co opened its New York office in 2021 and has since expanded the team to 10 investment professionals, including Morrison & Co’s Chief Investment Officer William Smales. Morrison & Co has significant digital infrastructure expertise and its portfolio of integrated digital assets includes Vodafone NZ, Amplitel Towers, CDC Data Centres, Kao Data Centres, Fore Freedom and Australian Registry Investments.

The acquisition is expected to close following the fulfillment of customary closing conditions including regulatory approvals.

Bank Street served as exclusive financial advisor and Taft served as legal counsel to FiberLight. TD Securities served as exclusive financial advisor and Torys LLC served as legal counsel to Morrison & Co.

Chief Executive Officer Christopher Rabii With our existing backbone infrastructure and unmatched density across the markets we serve, FiberLight is well equipped to deploy a multitude of solutions to ensure our customers can meet their growing bandwidth needs. Morrison & Co is our ideal new partner to support our growth strategy due to its commitment of capital and resources and shared belief that fiber infrastructure is the key to bridging the digital divide and rapid expansion required to meet the extraordinary long-term demand.