Spectrotel Acquired by Grain Management, Eyes Mobility Expansion

Private equity investment firm Grain Management has wrapped its acquisition of Spectrotel in a deal that helps the network aggregator significantly scale its managed services.

The parties announced the deal on Thursday. The acquisition brings together a broadband-focused investment firm with one of the channel’s most established carrier aggregators and technology services providers. They did not disclose the financial terms of the transaction.

Spectrotel will bring to market a mobile device management offering as a result of the acquisition. The company had already entered the MDM space with the 2021 acquisition of Matrix, but the new funding from Grain allows Spectrotel to more quickly expand MDM to all of its customers.

Grain Management is a 16-year-old private equity company that focuses solely on broadband providers. Its portfolio companies include California-based optical network integrator LightRiver, Brazilian fiber provider Alares and Arkansas-based service provider Ritter Communications.

The Spectrotel acquisition marks one of Grain’s first deals outside of infrastructure. New Jersey-based Spectrotel, founded in 1996, serves midmarket and enterprise customers.

Grain Management’s Jenny Kashdan

“Grain is a significant investor around the broadband and managed services sector, and we could not be more excited to be taking this step with the Spectrotel team,” said Grain managing director Jenny Kashdan said. “We deeply admire the value Spectrotel brings to the marketplace and the exceptional reputation they have built with their customers and partners, and we look forward to supporting their continued growth as a leader in their space.”

Acquisition Details

Citizens Capital Markets provided exclusive financial advisory services to Spectrotel. In addition, Wachtel Missry LLP provided legal counsel to Spectrotel, while Alston & Bird LLP provided legal counsel to Grain.

Spectrotel’s Ross Artale

Spectrotel founder and CEO Jack Dayan has stepped down from the CEO position; he will keep a minority stake in the company. In the meantime, former chief operating officer Ross Artale will step into the chief executive role. Artale joined Spectrotel in 2007 and has earned numerous accolades, including recognition as one of Channel Futures’ 20 Networking and Connectivity Channel Leaders of 2022.

Artale sat down with Channel Futures for an interview. He articulates his vision for Spectrotel and his thoughts on the aggregation space in the eight slides above.