Communications Sales & Leasing Inc. of Little Rock on Monday said announced a third-quarter loss while revenue rose 15 percent and the company announced an acquisition of communications towers in Latin America.
The firm, a publicly traded real estate investment trust spinoff (Nasdaq: CSAL) of Windstream Holdings Inc. of Little Rock, reported third-quarter loss attributable to common shareholders of $4.1 million, down from income of $8.9 million in the same quarter last year.
It also reported a 3 cent loss per common share, down from a 6 cent profit in the same quarter last year. Revenue was $200.2 million, up 15 percent from $173.6 million in the same quarter last year.
The company also announced a $65 million deal to purchase privately-held 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.
The firm’s portfolio spans three Latin America countries, with 313 towers in Mexico, 55 in Nicaragua, and 105 in Colombia.
CS&L said the the entire portfolio is expected to generate $7.9 million in annual revenue and $4.4 million of annual tower cash flow when fully completed. Under the terms of the deal, CS&L will acquire the towers under development when construction is completed.
CS&L said it will initially fund the transaction through borrowings under its revolving credit facility. The deal is set to close in the first quarter of 2017.
“This portfolio is a very attractive investment for our tower business with nearly 90 percent of the revenues from the major wireless carriers, and approximately 60 percent from existing CSAL customers,” Kenny Gunderman, CS&L’s president and CEO of CS&L, said in a news release. “This portfolio further positions us to benefit from growth opportunities in Latin America as the wireless carriers continue to deploy mission critical communication infrastructure.”
CS&L said its tower business will now operate under the name Uniti Towers and will be led by Lawrence Gleason as president.
During the quarter, CS&L completed its acquisition of Tower Cloud Inc., a privately held data transport services provider with a fiber network of 90,000 fiber strand miles throughout the southeastern U.S., for
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