Bluepeak Receives Strategic Investment from Ares Management

DENVER, CO, February 29, 2024 – Bluepeak (the “Company”), a leading provider of fiber broadband to residential and commercial customers in communities across the Great Plains region, today announced that funds managed by Ares Management’s Infrastructure Opportunities and Alterative Credit strategies (“Ares”) have made a strategic investment into Bluepeak.

Since its 2021 acquisition by GI Data Infrastructure, Bluepeak has expanded its regional footprint across five states and has constructed a fiber network to over 140,000 new homes. The investment from Ares will provide Bluepeak with fresh capital intended to help further accelerate its growth plans across the Great Plains region.

“Bluepeak is committed to providing reliable, high-speed internet and top-tier customer service to our communities,” said Rich Fish, CEO of Bluepeak. “We are incredibly proud of the Bluepeak team’s accomplishments to date, and we are excited to bring our services to additional communities with the benefit of this capital injection from Ares.”

“Bluepeak has developed a differentiated fiber platform that provides efficient, reliable, and critical service to families and businesses across the Great Plains region,” said Keith Derman, Co-Head of the Ares Infrastructure Opportunities strategy. “We are pleased to support the Company’s experienced management team with this structured investment, which we believe will help accelerate its expansion strategy into several attractive markets.”

“Over the past three years, Bluepeak has grown far beyond our initial expectations, and we believe this investment positions the Company for long-term profitable growth,” said Mark Prybutok, Managing Director and Co-Head of GI Data Infrastructure. “Ares is an experienced investor in this space, they have approached this investment in a very thoughtful way, and we look forward to a fruitful relationship with them.”

“We look forward to working with GI Data Infrastructure and Bluepeak,” said Joel Holsinger, Co-Head of the Ares Alternative Credit strategy. “This investment is an example of the collaborative strengths and scale of Ares’ platform, bringing together the Infrastructure Opportunities and Alternative Credit strategies to provide Bluepeak with flexible capital tied to an emerging asset class.”

Bank Street Group LLC and TD Securities (USA) served as financial advisors to Bluepeak and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP served as legal counsel to the Company. Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal counsel to Ares.

About Bluepeak
Bluepeak is a leading provider of fiber broadband to residential and commercial customers across five states in the U.S. Bluepeak is dedicated to providing reliable high-speed internet without the things that get in the way of great service — like red tape, hidden fees, and slow response times. Bluepeak offers up to 5 gigabits of speed for residential customers and 10 gigabits for businesses, meeting the growing needs of its customers in the communities it serves. Visit mybluepeak.com to learn more.

About GI Partners
Founded in 2001, GI Partners is a private investment firm with over 150 employees and offices in San Francisco, New York, Dallas, Chicago, Greenwich, Scottsdale, and London. The firm has raised more than $43 billion in capital and invests on behalf of leading institutional investors around the world through its private equity, real estate, and data infrastructure strategies. The private equity team invests primarily in companies in the healthcare, services, and software sectors. The real estate strategy focuses primarily on technology and life sciences properties as well as other specialized types of real estate. The data infrastructure team invests primarily in hard asset infrastructure businesses underpinning the digital economy. For more information, please visit www.gipartners.com.

About Ares Management Corporation
Ares Management Corporation (NYSE:ARES) is a leading global alternative investment manager offering clients complementary primary and secondary investment solutions across the credit, private equity, real estate and infrastructure asset classes. We seek to provide flexible capital to support businesses and create value for our stakeholders and within our communities. By collaborating across our investment groups, we aim to generate consistent and attractive investment returns throughout market cycles. As of December 31, 2023, Ares Management Corporation's global platform had approximately $419 billion of assets under management, with approximately 2,850 employees operating across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East. For more information, please visit www.aresmgmt.com.