Kirkland Advises FirstLight on Completion of Inaugural $1.14 Billion Fiber Securitization

Kirkland & Ellis advised FirstLight Fiber, Inc., a leading provider of communications and fiber infrastructure, network connectivity, colocation and certain cloud-based managed services in the Northeast region of the United States, on the inaugural securitization of its communications system assets through FirstLight Issuer, LLC’s issuance of $1.14 billion of secured communications system revenue notes. The securitization included $950 million of Class A-2 term notes and up to $190 million of commitments under Class A-1 variable funding notes and liquidity funding notes. The notes are secured by communications system assets that include fiber network assets, customer agreements, related receivables and other accounts and collateral. The transaction provides FirstLight with a programmatic capital structure to support its fiber infrastructure and connectivity platform. The transaction closed on July 10, 2026.

The Kirkland team included structured finance lawyers Kelly Mellecker and Tad Bardenwerper.