Macquarie Asset Management announces investment in US fiber business Pavlov Media

Macquarie Asset Management (“MAM”), the world’s largest infrastructure manager¹ announced today that a fund managed by MAM (“the Fund”) has made a preferred equity investment in Pavlov Media Inc., one of the largest independent providers of fiber-based Internet connectivity to off-campus student housing in the United States.

Pavlov Media, which was founded in 1994, primarily provides broadband services to multi-dwelling units (MDUs) under bulk agreements with MDU landlords. The company currently focuses on off-campus student housing and today serves approximately 800 MDU buildings, which have over 275,000 beds, across more than 150 markets in the U.S. and Canada. Pavlov Media connects these buildings to its national backbone through its owned last-mile fiber network or third-party circuits.

The Fund’s investment will allow Pavlov Media to continue the construction of fiber infrastructure in existing and new markets, expand the company’s MDU market presence and accelerate Pavlov Media’s fiber-to-the-home initiatives, which are focused on locations around its core markets.

“We believe that the combination of Pavlov Media’s highly contracted base business and its significant growth potential represents a unique opportunity to invest in the rapidly growing consumer fiber sector,” said Karl Kuchel, CEO of Macquarie Infrastructure Partners. “We look forward to partnering with the Pavlov Media management team to support the future growth of the business."

“I'm very proud to announce this new partnership with Macquarie Asset Management,” said Mark Scifres, Chairman and CEO of Pavlov Media. “MAM has a highly respected track record in bringing fiber connectivity to underserved geographies and shares my vision of building networks that deliver simply exceptional connections for our customers, and we look forward to working with them to grow our business.”  

About Pavlov Media

Pavlov Media is headquartered in Champaign, IL and offers broadband, voice and television services. The company operates networks connected to its 100 Gigabit national backbone network in 44 states and Canada. Pavlov Media specializes in private networks designed, built and operated by a team of dedicated professionals from the multifamily real estate industry. 

Other than Macquarie Bank Limited ABN 46 008 583 542 (“Macquarie Bank”), any Macquarie Group entity noted in this document is not an authorised deposit-taking institution for the purposes of the Banking Act 1959 (Commonwealth of Australia).  The obligations of these other Macquarie Group entities do not represent deposits or other liabilities of Macquarie Bank.  Macquarie Bank does not guarantee or otherwise provide assurance in respect of the obligations of these other Macquarie Group entities.  In addition, if this document relates to an investment, (a) the investor is subject to investment risk including possible delays in repayment and loss of income and principal invested and (b) none of Macquarie Bank or any other Macquarie Group entity guarantees any particular rate of return on or the performance of the investment, nor do they guarantee repayment of capital in respect of the investment.

1. IPE Real Assets (Jul/Aug 22), ranking based on total assets under management (AUM) as of 31 December 2021.  AUM is defined by IPE as the total gross asset value of all assets managed and committed capital (including uncalled).  The ranking is the opinion of the publisher and not of Macquarie. No such person creating the ranking is affiliated with Macquarie or is an investor in Macquarie-sponsored vehicles. There can be no assurance that other providers or surveys would reach the same conclusions as the ranking or award being advertised.