Uniti Group Inc. Completes Acquisitions of Southern Light and Hunt
July 03 2017 - 1:05PM
Uniti Group Inc. (“Uniti” or the “Company”) (Nasdaq:UNIT) announced
today the completion of its acquisitions of Southern Light, LLC
(“Southern Light”) and Hunt Telecommunications, LLC (“Hunt”).
The Company used cash on hand and borrowings under its revolving
credit facility to fund the aggregate $749.5 million cash portion
of the purchase price, and issued 4.2 million operating partnership
units.
Kenny Gunderman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Uniti,
commented, “We are pleased to announce the closing of these
transactions and welcome the Southern Light and Hunt employees to
Uniti Group. Southern Light and Hunt will operate under the Uniti
Fiber brand in our fiber infrastructure segment.”
Mr. Gunderman continued, “Uniti Fiber will be led jointly with
Andy Newton, formerly Chief Executive Officer of Southern Light,
serving as President Infrastructure and Operations, and Ron Mudry
serving as President of Sales and Business Development. The
executive team of Hunt will continue to have senior leadership
positions in Uniti Fiber, particularly focused on E-rate, military
and enterprise products and services. This structure will
provide continuity to ensure an efficient integration while
leveraging national and local sales channels and the operational
expertise of our entire Uniti Fiber team.”
The acquisitions of Southern Light and Hunt strengthen Uniti
Fiber’s standing as a leading provider of data transport services,
with a particular focus on infrastructure solutions to the
wireless, E-Rate, military, enterprise and wholesale sectors,
including fiber-to-the-tower backhaul, small cell networks, and
dark fiber deployments. Uniti Fiber’s network now encompasses over
30,000 route miles and 1.1 million fiber strand miles, with 3,000
route miles of dark fiber presently under construction.
ABOUT UNITI
Uniti, an internally managed real estate investment trust, is
engaged in the acquisition and construction of mission critical
communications infrastructure, and is a leading provider of
wireless infrastructure solutions for the communications
industry. As of July 3, 2017, Uniti owns 4,800,000 million
fiber strand miles, 631 wireless towers, and other communications
real estate throughout the United States and Mexico. Additional
information about Uniti can be found on its website at
www.uniti.com.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Certain statements in this press release may constitute
forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended from time to
time. Those forward-looking statements include all statements that
are not historical statements of fact, including, without
limitation, those regarding our business strategies, growth
prospects, industry trends, sales opportunities, operating and
financial performance, and the anticipated benefits of the Southern
Light and Hunt transactions.
Words such as "anticipate(s)," "expect(s)," "intend(s),"
“estimate(s),” “foresee(s),” "plan(s)," "believe(s)," "may,"
"will," "would," "could," "should," "seek(s)" and similar
expressions, or the negative of these terms, are intended to
identify such forward-looking statements. These statements are
based on management's current expectations and beliefs and are
subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could lead to
actual results differing materially from those projected,
forecasted or expected. Although we believe that the assumptions
underlying the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can
give no assurance that our expectations will be attained. Factors
which could materially alter our expectations include, but are not
limited to, the ability and willingness of our customers to meet
and/or perform their obligations under any contractual arrangements
entered into with us; the ability and willingness of our customers
to renew their leases with us upon their expiration, and the
ability to reposition our properties on the same or better terms in
the event of nonrenewal or in the event we replace an existing
tenant; our ability to renew, extend or obtain contracts with
significant customers (including customers of the businesses we
acquire); the availability of and our ability to identify suitable
acquisition opportunities and our ability to acquire and lease the
respective properties on favorable terms; the risk that we fail to
fully realize the potential benefits of acquisitions or have
difficulty integrating acquired companies; our ability to generate
sufficient cash flows to service our outstanding indebtedness; our
ability to access debt and equity capital markets; the impact on
our business or the business of our customers as a result of credit
rating downgrades and fluctuating interest rates; our ability to
retain our key management personnel; our ability to qualify or
maintain our status as a real estate investment trust (“REIT”);
changes in the U.S. tax law and other state, federal or local laws,
whether or not specific to REITs; covenants in our debt agreements
that may limit our operational flexibility; other risks inherent in
the communications industry and in the ownership of communications
distribution systems, including potential liability relating to
environmental matters and illiquidity of real estate investments;
and additional factors described in our reports filed with the
SEC.
Uniti expressly disclaims any obligation to release publicly any
updates or revisions to any of the forward-looking statements set
forth in this press release to reflect any change in its
expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances
on which any statement is based.
INVESTOR AND MEDIA CONTACTS:
Mark A. Wallace, 501-850-0866
Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer & Treasurer
mark.wallace@uniti.com
Jim Volk, 501-850-0872
Vice President, Finance & Investor Relations
jim.volk@uniti.com
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