Crown Castle to buy Lightower for $7.1 Billion
July 18 2017 - 6:54PM
Dow Jones News
By Maria Armental
Crown Castle International Corp. has reached an agreement to buy
LTS Group Holdings LLC in a roughly $7.1 billion deal that would
double its fiber-optic footprint and add key Northeast metropolitan
markets.
LTS Group, the holding company of Lightower Fiber Networks, is
currently owned by private-equity firm Berkshire Partners, Pamlico
Capital and other investors.
Houston-based Crown Castle said it expects to raise its annual
dividend rate based on the acquisition's projected boost.
In the first full year of ownership, Crown Castle expects
Lightower to contribute $850 million to $870 million in site-rental
revenue; $510 million to $530 million in adjusted earnings before
interest, tax, depreciation and amortization; and $465 million to
$485 million in adjusted funds from operations before financing
costs.
The deal, first reported by Reuters, would give Crown Castle
rights to some 60,000 route miles of fiber on 23 of the top 25 most
populous domestic markets, the company said Tuesday.
Crown Castle owns portfolios of cell towers, which it then rents
to carriers.
Its stock, inactive in recent extended trading, closed down
0.18% at $96.64. Through Tuesday's closing, the stock was up 11%
for the year.
Write to Maria Armental at maria.armental@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 18, 2017 18:39 ET (22:39 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2024 to May 2024
Crown Castle (NYSE:CCI)
Historical Stock Chart
From May 2023 to May 2024