As expected, Crown Castle International Corp. completed the sale of its U.K. subsidiary, including 3,600 tower sites, to British utility company National Grid Transco plc for $2.035 billion in cash. Upon completion, Crown used $1.3 billion of the proceeds from the transaction to fully repay the credit facility of its restricted group operating company.
Earlier this summer, when it announced the pending sale, Crown said bond indentures require it to move the remaining $740 million in proceeds within 12 months. Ben Moreland, Crown’s chief financial officer, emphasized the company will remain prudent about where it invests those proceeds, indicating they likely would be used to repay debt, fund a share repurchase, pay down dividends or to possibly invest in new U.S. business opportunities.
The lump of cash could put Crown in the running to buy Sprint Corp.’s 6,300-strong tower portfolio, currently being reviewed by players across the industry and by other investors. The towers, which analysts say could sell for as much as $1 billion, would return Crown to the No. 1 ranked tower company, a place it lost to American Tower Corp. with the U.K. sale. American Tower owns 13,219 towers.
But, “anything we would look at would have to compare very favorably to our own share buyback proposal,” said Moreland at an analyst meeting earlier this month.
Following the transaction, Crown owns, operates and manages 11,900 wireless communications sites in the United States and Australia. Shares of Crown were trading at $14.14 per share following the close of the sale.
