CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Telecommunications tower operator Crown Castle International Corp. (CCI) said Thursday that it has agreed to sell its Australian unit Crown Castle Australia or CCAL to a consortium of investors for about A$2 billion, or $1.6 billion, in cash.
Crown Castle noted that the sale of CCAL to a consortium led by Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets will enable it to re-allocate capital to growth enhancing initiatives in the U.S. market, which it believes is the most attractive wireless market in the world for wireless investment.
Crown Castle had said in mid-February that it plans to explore the potential sale of CCAL. Crown Castle owns a 77.6 percent stake in CCAL.
CCAL is an independent tower operator in Australia with a nationwide portfolio of about 1,800 sites providing wireless communications coverage throughout all states and territories.
CCAL's customers include mobile telecommunications carriers such as Optus, Telstra and Vodafone Hutchison Australia; wireless broadband service providers such as NBN Co.; and key emergency service network providers.
Upon consummation of the transaction, Crown Castle expects to receive net proceeds from the sale of about $1.3 billion after accounting for its ownership interest, repayment of intercompany debt owed to it by CCAL, and estimated transaction fees as well as expenses. The company expects the transaction to close during the second quarter of 2015.
Crown Castle expects to use the net proceeds from the transaction to finance its previously announced acquisition of Sunesys and for general corporate purposes, including the repayment of some of its debt.
Ben Moreland, Crown Castle's President and CEO said, 'The sale of CCAL allows us to redeploy capital towards our growing small cell networks, which we expect will be accretive to our long-term AFFO and dividend per share growth rates. We believe we are in the early stages of small cells deployment and are excited by the opportunities that we see ahead of us.'
Crown Castle noted that CCAL was earlier expected to contribute about $97 million to $102 million to Crown Castle's previously-provided fiscal 2015 outlook for adjusted EBITDA of $2.145 billion to $2.160 billion.
Further, CCAL was expected to contribute about $58 million to $63 million to Crown Castle's previously-provided fiscal outlook for adjusted funds from operations or adjusted FFO in a range of $1.450 billion to $1.465 billion. Crown Castle's full-year was previously provided on April 22, 2015.
CCI is trading at $82.59, up $0.25 or 0.30 percent on a volume of 432,780 shares.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX