American Tower Corporation recently announced it has entered into an agreement to buy the parent company of Global Tower Partners for $3.3 billion in cash as well as the assumption of $1.5 billion in debt. The company said it expects the transaction to close in the fourth quarter of 2013.
According to a release announcing the deal, Global Tower Partners (GTP) owns and operates approximately 5,400 domestic wireless towers, 800 domestic property interests under third-party communications sites, and has management rights over 9,000 domestic sites, which are primarily rooftop assets. The organization being acquired also owns 500 communications sites in Costa Rica. American Tower Corporation, an owner/operator/developer of wireless and broadcast real estate, owns more than 56,000 communications sites in the U.S., Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Germany, Ghana, India, Mexico, Peru, South Africa and Uganda, according to the same release.
“American Tower expects that in aggregate, in 2014, the portfolio will generate approximately $345 million in revenues and approximately $270 million of gross margin, and is anticipated to be immediately accretive to adjusted funds from operations upon closing,” the company said. American Tower’s chairman, president and chief executive officer Jim Taiclet commented, “GTP has constructed and acquired an outstanding U.S. portfolio of tower, rooftop and land assets, which is highly complementary to that of American Tower. Moreover, GTP’s management of these assets has been excellent, as confirmed through our rigorous due diligence process. GTP’s towers boast a high quality customer base, a strong position with respect to ground ownership and lease terms, and additional structural capacity available to facilitate future leasing activity. With all four major domestic wireless carriers engaged in aggressive multi-year 4G LTE deployments, we believe our acquisition of GTP solidifies our path to achieving our strategic goals related to growing our AFFO over the next five years.”