Member of 7th richest family in US plans to buy Hargray

Hargray Communications has been bought by an investment group led by one of the richest men in the country.

Hargray Communications Group and The Pritzker Organization announced Tuesday that the Tom Pritzker Family Business Interests has agreed to acquire the regional telecommunications company in an all-cash transaction.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed Tuesday, but the sale is expected to close between April and June of this year, the company announced.

The sale comes just a week after Hargray Communications notified its Beaufort County customers that it was raising rates by several dollars a month, though the internet, phone and cable company claims the rate hike is not connected to the acquisition.

“We do not foresee any changes to employment, products, services or service levels,” said Hargray’s Chairman and CEO Michael Gottdenker. “The only thing that will change is that we will have permanent shareholders.”

Joe Gleberman, The Pritzker Organization’s managing director, said Hargray’s new ownership group has no immediate plans to change the Hargray Communications name or branding.

“There hasn’t been any discussion of doing that,” he said. “There seems to be some good brand equity there.”

Hargray has been owned by New York private equity firm Quadrangle Capital Partners for the past 10 years.

Hargray serves more than 65,000 customers in South Carolina and Georgia. The company is the seventh largest taxpayer and the eleventh largest employer in Beaufort County, according the county’s most recent comprehensive annual fiscal report in 2015.

Gleberman said the Hargray purchase is The Pritzker Organization’s “first telecom deal” and the company’s first investment in Beaufort County.

However, The Pritzker Organization owns several Hyatt hotels in Savannah, and the company is “familiar with the Lowcountry,” he said.

Gleberman said the company views the Hargray purchase as a long-term investment.

“Our business model is to try to buy businesses that we can grow,” he said. “That doesn’t mean we won’t sell (Hargray) ever, but that is not in our plans.”

The Pritzker Organization’s chairman Tom Pritzker is a member of one of the country’s wealthiest families.

The Pritzker family of Chicago ranked seventh on Forbes’ 2016 list of richest families.

The family’s net worth is $29 billion, and Forbes counts 11 billionaires among the Pritzker clan.

Tom Pritzker’s personal fortune tops $3 billion, according to the magazine.

Members of the family include former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker and movie producer Gigi Pritzker.

The medical school at the University of Chicago and the law school at Northwestern University are among the many institutions to bear the Pritzker family name.

Tom Pritzger, the 66-year-old leader of Hargray’s new ownership group, serves on the board of trustees for the Art Institute of Chicago.

TPO’s interests are spread “across a wide variety of industries” and “notable businesses include Hyatt Hotels, Triton Container and the Marmon Group,” according to a news release.

This story was originally published March 7, 2017 at 11:22 AM with the headline "Member of 7th richest family in US plans to buy Hargray."