Brightspeed, the Apollo-owned fibre broadband operator serving rural and suburban America, is negotiating with creditors to secure between $2B and $3B in new financing, according to Bloomberg. The company carries approximately $10B in total debt and issued warnings in September that it may struggle to remain solvent. Bankruptcy could arrive as early as December, with the structure of any creditor deal still under negotiation.
Neither Brightspeed nor Apollo offered comment on the discussions. The Wall Street Journal previously reported the potential December bankruptcy timeline, as cited by Light Reading. The company's debt situation has deteriorated significantly: a $2.5B loan facility traded at roughly 17 cents on the dollar as of Friday, indicating severe distress across its capital structure.
Apollo acquired Brightspeed in 2022 when it purchased Lumen's local phone and broadband operations across 20 states for $7.5B. The company has invested aggressively to expand fibre infrastructure into predominantly rural and suburban territories. By April, Brightspeed had reached 3 million fibre-ready locations, with fibre-based sales climbing 16% year-over-year.
This marks the second restructuring effort in as many years. During 2024, Brightspeed eliminated $1.1B of debt while raising $3.7B in fresh capital through an agreement with its lending syndicate. The company recently appointed Shawn O'Donnell, formerly a senior managing director at FTI Consulting, to the chief executive role.
Apollo's involvement in Brightspeed represents just one facet of the investment firm's technology portfolio. The firm has gained prominence for its substantial lending to artificial intelligence ventures, including a $36B debt arrangement with Blackstone designed to finance chip purchases for Anthropic. Meanwhile, Lumen—the original owner of Brightspeed's assets—has pivoted toward AI customers and this week announced plans to offer AI networks in partnership with Microsoft.
Source: The Next Web
