Innovate Corp.

Innovate Corp. (formerly known as HC2 Holdings, Inc. and Primus Telecommunications Group, Inc.) is an American public financial services company founded in 1994.

Primus commenced operations in 1994 intent on being a global, facilities-based service provider. They entered the U.S market in 1995 by assembling their core management team and beginning operations.

In 1996, Primus began its global expansion by acquiring Australia's then-fourth largest telecommunications service provider, Axicorp.^{[citation needed]} The same year, Primus obtained a long-distance carrier license in the then-newly deregulated United Kingdom and also released their initial public offering. They completed their public listing the following year with the completion of the sale of more than US$225 million in senior notes and warrants.

Primus' global expansion continued in 1997 with key acquisitions and international network expansion. They completed the build and activation of their Australian switched network, international gateway switches in New York and Los Angeles, and trans-Pacific links. 1997 was also the beginning of Primus' growth through acquisitions. In April, Primus purchased Cam-Net Communications Network Inc. to allow them to enter the Canadian long-distance market. Later that year, Primus acquired Telepassport LLC and the assets of USFI Inc; this expanded Primus' long distance services operations into Germany, Japan, Austria, Switzerland and South Africa.

1998 saw Primus expand their operations further in Australia with the acquisition of Eclipse Telecommunications Pty. Ltd. and Hotkey Internet Services Pty Limited. These acquisitions, along with Primus' new Australian Carriers License, meant they were able to offer Internet and data services to Australians. This, however, was not Primus' most significant activity in 1998. In February that year, they announced the acquisition of TresCom International Inc. for a sum of US$125 million which was later completed for US$150 million. The completion of this acquisition increased Primus' customer base to approximately 200,000 corporate, small and medium-sized business, residential and wholesale customers in the North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific regions. That same year, Primus received international carrier status from Canada's Radio and Telephone Commission and signed a significant deal with Qwest for fiber and increased bandwidth capacity for their U.S points of presence.

In March 1999, Primus' Canadian subsidiary purchased Toronto-based London Telecom Group Inc. Earlier in the year Primus also purchased GlobalServe Communications, a privately owned Canadian Internet Service Provider. These acquisitions were closely followed by the purchase of many of the retail operations of Telegroup Inc, including their Australian subsidiary. A long-distance telephone company based in Fairfield, Iowa with 350,000 customers around the world, Telegroup was in Chapter 11 bankruptcy before Primus purchased their assets for $72 million. Primus' growth did not end there. In March of the same year, they were granted a Type 1 Telecommunications Carrier License in Japan, which made them one of the first foreign-based carriers to be awarded the license. They were also approved for a Public Telecommunications Operations license to offer voice telephony services in France and to capitalize on their agreement to interconnect with Deutsche Telekom they purchased German Internet Service Provider, TCP/IP GmbH. These developments and Primus' investment in pan-European fiber optic systems such as their Atlantic Crossing 1, Aphrodite Aphrodite, Arianne, CANTAT, Gemini and TAT12/13 meant Primus at the time offered services to 25 major cities located in 11 countries, including Austria, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Primus continued to pursue growth through the purchase of assets in 1999. They purchased a 51% controlling stake in Brazil's fifth largest Internet Service Provider, Matrix Internet S.A to gain access to the Brazilian market; they also acquired DSL provider DigitalSelect LLC to improve their residential broadband capabilities and firm 1492 Technologies to add e-commerce and web services capabilities to the organization.

In January Primus won the Washington Technology Fast 50 award. Later that year they were recognized by Deloitte & Touche as the fastest growing technology company according to their Fast 500 ranking, an award subsequently won by eBay in 2001 and Google in 2004. Primus continued their network expansion by furthering their relationship with Qwest, they signed an agreement to purchase capacity for their nationwide fiber optic cable ring and connecting routes. This agreement came on the back of announcements that Primus had begun strategic alliances with Akamai Technologies and Hewlett-Packard. Their relationship with Akamai involved an agreement to jointly deploy Akamai servers in select Primus points of presence to further Akamai's global content delivery capabilities. Primus' venture with Hewlett-Packard involved both parties joining forces to provide business services through HP-powered data centers across Primus' global network, the relationship involved a US$50 million investment by Hewlett-Packard. While Primus continued expanding their ATM and IP networks in the U.S and internationally they also continued their acquisition growth strategy by purchasing LCR Telecom Group, a London-based voice and data reseller; Infinity Online Systems Inc., a Canadian Internet Service Provider; a 38% stake in Bekkoame Internet Inc., a Japanese Internet Service Provider; Shore.Net, a New-England based Internet Service Provider with data center facilities and InterNeXt S.A., a French Internet Service Provider with national operations. These acquisitions also coincided with Primus entering the Puerto Rico market by partnering with Virtual Inc. and receiving a Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC) license.

At its peak in March 2000, Primus' stock price was valued at US$51.69 per share and the business was generating US$1.2 billion in revenue annually.