Posted on December - 02 - 2010
Parent company of Norlight and KDL sold to Arkansas firm; 24 jobs cut
EVANSVILLE — The purchase of Kentucky Data Link (KDL), Inc., and Norlight, Inc., both based in Evansville, and their parent company, Q-Comm Corp., based in Overland Park, Kans., has been completed in a transaction valued at $818 million.
Twenty-four positions are being eliminated in Evansville as a result of the sale.
The buyer, Windstream Corp., an S&P 500 communications and technology company based in Little Rock, Ark., issued approximately 20.6 million common shares, valued at $273 million based on Windstream’s closing share price on Dec. 1 of $13.24. It also paid approximately $279 million in cash as part of the transaction, according to Windstream officials.
Windstream also repaid approximately $266 million of Q-Comm’s total outstanding net debt, they said.
Windstream financed the transaction with cash and proceeds from a bond offering in October.
It expects to achieve annual operating expense and capital expenditure synergies of approximately $25 million.
KDL provides fiber services in 23 states and in the District of Columbia. It has about 400 employees.
Norlight serves primarily the Midwest as a competitive local exchange services company. It has approximately 200 employees.
There are about 310 employees in Evansville and about 600 overall for both KDL and Norlight.
David Avery, a Windstream spokesman, said there are 24 positions in Evansville that are being eliminated out of 33 overall.
He said Windstream will eliminate 17 positions at Norlight and seven at KDL for a total of 24.
The leave dates will vary, beginning Dec. 31 and continuing throughout the first half of 2011.
“We notified the affected employees (Thursday afternoon),” Avery said.
The positions are in various work disciplines, including administration, finance and marketing.
“The functions largely are redundant to work performed in our corporate office or in other centralized work locations,” said Avery.
“No additional reductions are planned at this time.”
The displaced employees will receive severance benefits and can apply for other open positions with Windstream, said Avery.
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