With a 17,000-mile fiber-optic network—and deep expertise in emerging IP-based communications for businesses—McLeodUSA Communications was well positioned to go public in 2007. The company selected Jefferies as joint bookrunner in the IPO process due to the Firm's telecommunications expertise and ongoing relationship with the company, following Jefferies' role as sole bookrunner on a $120 million financing in 2006. McLeodUSA's success in serving business customers also made the company an attractive acquisition candidate. While awaiting SEC approval for the IPO, McLeodUSA received an all-stock merger offer valued at $557 million from PAETEC Holding Corp. Jefferies was retained as a financial advisor on the merger, providing McLeodUSA with a seamless banking team from the first financing in 2006 to the transaction's close in February 2008. The merger created a new national leader in competitive communications. The combined PAETEC and McLeodUSA entity serves the equivalent of 3.54 million access lines, has a presence in 82 of the top 100 US metropolitan areas and has combined revenue of more than $1.6 billion. By these measures, the new PAETEC is the largest US competitive communications carrier focused on business customers. For McLeodUSA, the merger allowed the company to achieve its market expansion objectives and to go public. For PAETEC, the acquisition solidified its status as a rising player in the industry with a sound financial position, national reach and an enhanced product portfolio that solves the real-world communications problems that businesses face each day.