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CS&L to Change Name, Buy Hunt Telecom for $170M

2 min read

Communications Sales & Leasing Inc. of Little Rock announced another acquisition on Thursday and said it will change its name to Uniti Group Inc. effective Monday.

The company said it has agreed to buy Hunt Telecommunications LLC of Metairie, Louisiana, for $170 million in cash and equity. Hunt provides data transport to K–12 schools and government agencies and boasts a network of 140,000 fiber strand miles and 2,600 fiber route miles in Louisiana.

“The acquisition of Hunt advances CS&L’s diversification strategy and accelerates Uniti Fiber’s focus on the growing E-Rate, enterprise and government sectors,” President and CEO Kenny Gunderman said in a news release. “As we integrate Hunt and Uniti Fiber, we expect to capture $2.5 million in annual run-rate cost savings within 18 months from closing.”

The deal, which is subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to close in the third quarter of 2017. 

Communications Sales & Leasing said it is changing its name to align with the brand name of its principal business units: Uniti Towers, Uniti Fiber and Uniti Leasing. 

On Jan. 31, the company closed on its previously announced, $63 million acquisition of Network Management Holdings Ltd., which owns and operates 359 wireless communications towers in Latin America with an additional 114 build-to-suit towers under development. At the time, CS&L said it would operate the portfolio under the Uniti name. 

Trading for Uniti Group will begin Monday under the Nasdaq symbol “UNIT.”

4Q, Fiscal Year Results

Also on Thursday, CS&L reported a fourth-quarter net loss of $4.4 million, or a loss of 4 cents per diluted share, down from a profit of $7.2 million, or 5 cents per share, in the same quarter last year. Quarterly revenue rose, up 19 percent to $206.9 million.

For the full year, the company posted a $212,000 net loss, or a loss of 4 cents per diluted share, down from a profit of $24.9 million, or 16 cents per share. Revenue rose, up 48 percent to $677.4 million.

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