GTT Acquires ACI in Wake of Interoute Buy

GTT Communications Inc. today announced the acquisition of Accelerated Connections. The move comes just weeks after GTT announced plans to buy Interoute for $2.3 billion.

ACI is a Toronto-based provider of managed networking, VoIP, and collocation services. GTT says its purchase of the company gives it one of the largest non-incumbent footprints in Canada. This deal also provides GTT with additional services and adds strategic clients in key verticals like financial, hospitality, and retail.

“ACI’s deep experience in delivering cloud networking services to distributed enterprises in Canada significantly expands GTT’s global presence,” said Rick Calder, president and CEO of GTT, which says it will disclose the financial terms of the ACI buy with its first quarter 2018 results. “This acquisition demonstrates our commitment to invest in assets and capabilities that enable us to deliver on our purpose of connecting people across organizations and around the world.”

GTT caters to multinationals with cloud-based service including optical transport, WAN solutions, internet, managed services, and voice and video services. It was started by H. Brian Thompson, who today serves as GTT’s executive chairman of the board. He was an executive vice president of MCI, which WorldCom bought in 1998 for $37 billion. Then, he founded LCI International, which he later sold to Qwest for $4.4 billion.

As noted above, GTT also recently bought Interoute, a London-based company with a market value of more than $2 billion. And last year, its annual revenue was $884 million.

GTT’s purchase of Interoute provides it with 72,000 kilometers of fiber in Europe, data centers, and collocation assets. GTT President and CEO Rick Calder said that deal: “creates a disruptive market leader.” He added the acquisition will help it address the demand for distributed cloud networking in Europe, the U.S. and elsewhere. 

Giglinx, Global Capacity, and Perseus are among the other recent GTT acquisitions.