I Squared Capital-Backed Lightstorm Acquires APAC Subsea Assets

JGA North, a private cable with RTI Connectivity (RTI) as the sole investor, is the northern segment of the Japan-Guam-Australia Cable System between Minami-Boso, Japan and Piti, Guam.

It was manufactured and built by NEC and was funded by proceeds from Japanese financial institutions, including the Fund Corporation for the Overseas Development of Japan's ICT and Postal Services Inc. (Japan ICT Fund) and NEC Capital Solutions.

The cable was declared completed by RTI and NEC in July 2020, however according to a report by CommsDay, creditors placed its Singapore holding company and affiliated entities into receivership four months ago.

According to that report, a company formed by major Japanese banks who had financed the cable successfully applied to the Singapore High Court to place the assets of RTI Connectivity, RTI JGA Cable and related trust entities into receivership under Kroll Singapore.

It was also reported that debt owed to the banks had been sold-on for an unknown amount to I Squared Capital, a Miami-based global infrastructure fund.

Lightstorm, a pan-Asia cloud network infrastructure platform owned by I Squared Capital, announced yesterday that it has signed asset purchase agreements with court-appointed receivers in both Delaware and Singapore to acquire JGA North and portions of the JGA South and SEA-US cable.

JGA South is the southern segment of the RTI system and provides connectivity between Piti, Guam, the Sunshine Coast and Sydney. It was manufactured and co-built by NEC and Alcatel Submarine Network (ASN).

SEA-US is owned by RTI alongside GTA TeleGuam, Globe Telecom, Hawaiian Telcom and Telin. It was also supplied by NEC and is 14,500 km in length.

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