Zayo’s IFR Win Signals New Era for Enterprise Fiber Financing

DENVER, CO – January 16, 2026 – Zayo, a leading provider of communications infrastructure, has secured a prestigious “Deal of the Year” award from International Financing Review (IFR) for a groundbreaking financial transaction that is reshaping how critical digital infrastructure is funded. The award, for the North America Asset-Backed Securities (ABS) Issue of 2025, recognizes the company’s inaugural ~$1.42 billion fiber securitization, a move that not only provided a massive capital injection but also pioneered a new financing blueprint for the enterprise fiber industry.

The transaction, priced in January 2025, marked Zayo’s successful entry into the complex world of securitization. By bundling its enterprise fiber assets and associated long-term customer contracts in the U.S. Northeast into tradable securities, the company unlocked a new, repeatable source of capital. This financial innovation has drawn intense interest from investors and industry peers alike, signaling a pivotal shift in funding the backbone of the digital economy.

A New Blueprint for Infrastructure Finance

Securitization, the process of pooling contractual debt and selling the consolidated debt as securities to investors, is not new. However, its application to enterprise fiber networks on this scale is a significant departure from the norm. Historically, fiber securitizations have predominantly focused on residential or consumer-centric models, such as Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) networks, which often rely on shorter-term, month-to-month contracts with individual households.

Zayo’s award-winning deal broke this mold by focusing on its core business: providing high-bandwidth fiber infrastructure to a commercial client base of hyperscalers, data centers, wireless carriers, and large enterprises. The key distinction lies in the nature of the underlying assets. Unlike the residential market, Zayo’s contracts are typically long-term, feature a geographically diverse and often investment-grade customer base, and represent mission-critical services. These characteristics generate the stable, predictable, and durable cash flows that are highly attractive to institutional investors seeking reliable, long-duration returns.

The structure of the deal was recognized by IFR for its innovation and successful execution. It demonstrated that the predictable revenue streams from business-to-business fiber services were exceptionally well-suited for the ABS market. “IFR’s award recognizes the successful execution of our innovative, first ABS transaction and the confidence shown by investors in Zayo as a first-time issuer,” said Jeff Noto, Chief Financial Officer of Zayo, in a statement. The move effectively opened a new capital markets avenue for a segment of the fiber industry that had previously been on the sidelines of the securitization boom.

Unlocking Investor Appetite for Digital's Backbone

The market’s reception to Zayo’s inaugural ABS offering was nothing short of explosive. The final order book was more than ten times larger than the issuance size, a staggering level of oversubscription that underscores immense investor confidence in the asset class. This overwhelming demand is a powerful validation of enterprise fiber as a prime investment-grade asset, reflecting a broader market trend of capital flowing toward essential digital infrastructure.

The appeal is clear. In an often-volatile global economy, the steady cash flows generated by the fiber networks that power cloud computing, AI, and enterprise connectivity offer a compelling alternative to more traditional investments. Credit rating agencies have been actively developing frameworks to assess this burgeoning market. Since 2020, agencies like KBRA have rated over $14 billion in fiber ABS deals from more than ten different issuers, with enterprise fiber deals representing a significant and growing portion of that volume in 2025.

While agencies like FitchRatings have noted that the specialized nature of the collateral may cap top-tier ratings, the consistent performance and critical nature of these assets have cemented their place in institutional portfolios. Zayo’s success has proven that a well-structured deal backed by high-quality enterprise assets can attract a deep and diverse pool of capital, setting a high bar for future transactions in the sector.

Fueling the Next Wave of Digital Expansion

For Zayo, backed by financial sponsors DigitalBridge and EQT, the award-winning deal was not a one-off financial maneuver but the cornerstone of a new, long-term capital strategy. The company quickly established a repeatable securitization program, returning to the ABS market twice more in 2025 to raise a total of approximately $3.8 billion in new debt for the year. This establishes a durable funding engine to fuel its ambitious growth plans.

This influx of capital is being deployed directly into expanding the nation’s digital circulatory system. The company is investing aggressively to meet the voracious demand for bandwidth, driven largely by the proliferation of artificial intelligence. In early 2025, Zayo announced plans to build over 5,000 new long-haul fiber route miles specifically to support AI workloads and connect burgeoning data center hubs. This was followed by targeted regional investments, such as a $90 million commitment to enhance its network across Tennessee.

Perhaps most significantly, this financial flexibility supports major strategic moves. In March 2025, the company announced its intent to acquire Crown Castle's fiber solutions business for $4.25 billion, a deal that will add 90,000 route miles to its network. The capital raised through its ABS program is critical to integrating this massive expansion and continuing to invest in network capacity. As CFO Jeff Noto stated, this strategy allows the company to “invest ahead of demand while ensuring our customers can scale as connectivity needs continue to grow.”

By creating this repeatable financing mechanism, Zayo has insulated its long-term network build-out from the short-term volatility of traditional capital markets. This approach, which is being watched closely by competitors, provides the financial certainty needed to undertake multi-year, multi-billion-dollar infrastructure projects essential for supporting the next generation of technology. The company’s pioneering work in the ABS market is not just about optimizing its balance sheet; it is about building the physical foundation for America’s digital future.