Tucows, a provider of network access, domain names and other internet services, acquired wholesale domain name registrar eNom from Rightside Group for $83.5 million. The acquisition will be funded through an amendment increasing Tucows’ existing credit facility to a total of $140 million.

According to a related 8-K filing, Bank of Montreal was administrative agent for the facility increase.

The acquisition of eNom will add 14.5 million domains under management and 28,000 active resellers. That will give Tucows a total network of more than 40,000 resellers globally and 29 million domains under management, making it the second largest domain registrar in the world.

“For years, eNom and OpenSRS have been the two leading registrars primarily focused on the needs of resellers. This focus means these businesses fit very well together,” said David Woroch, Tucows’ EVP of Domains. “The acquisition keeps eNom resellers where they will be well understood, well valued and well served and creates tremendous value for Tucows and resellers on both sides through efficiency and scale.”

Elliot Noss, Tucows’ CEO added, “This industry has changed so much since Tucows and eNom each launched wholesale registrar services over 15 years ago and .com, .net and .org essentially represented the namespace. It is a lot more challenging and complex now. At the same time, it is more mature and much more competitive. Scale is absolutely critical. This is a rare deal that gives Tucows and its investors exactly that while offering an immediate cash on cash return.”