NTT Communications is to buy 100% of trans-Pacific cable-owner Pacific Crossing for more than $105 million, the company announced today.
A spokesperson for the Japanese carrier said the firm would pay “more than” 10 billion yen ($105.5 million) for the asset, which has been on the sale block since March.
Pacific Crossing is owned by a group of 20 funds, led by Connecticut-based Strategic Value Partners, who bought in at a valuation of $400 million three years ago.
They are now unwinding their investments because of the sharp fall in valuation, having bet unsuccessfully on a likely shortage of cross-Pacific capacity.
Pacific Crossing was founded in 1999 as part of the bandwdith ramp-up in the late 1990s. It collapsed when the tech bubble burst in 2001.
It owns the 21,000-kilometer, 3.2 Tbps PC-1 network, a ring configuration between the US West Coast and Japan.
“The acquisition of PCL will enable NTT Com to strengthen its trans-Pacific cable capacity and reliability,” NTT Com said in a statement.