Windstream Holdings Inc. of Little Rock announced Thursday that Kenny Gunderman has been appointed as the president and CEO of the company’s real estate investment trust spinoff.
The position had been vacant since the resignation of Windstream’s first CEO, Jeff Gardner, who was replaced by Tony Thomas, the appointed CEO of the REIT spinoff.
The company (Nasdaq: WIN) announced in July that it planned to spin off certain assets into a separate company, which will be called Communications Sales & Leasing Inc. The company expects to complete the spinoff by the first half of the year.
Francis X. “Skip” Frantz, who will be chairman of the REIT’s board, led the search for the REIT’s president and CEO. Gunderman is currently executive vice president and co-head of investment banking for Stephens Inc. of Little Rock, and the appointment is effective March 2.
Gunderman was named co-head of investment banking at Stephens in February 2007 after joining the company in 2006 as a senior telecom banker. Before joining Stephens, Gunderman worked on the telecom investment banking group at Lehman Brothers and at KPMG as a CPA.
“Kenny’s extensive background in investment banking and his deep relationships throughout the telecom industry uniquely position him to drive growth at CS&L,” Frantz said in a statement.
Thomas said in a statement that he has worked with Gunderman on “numerous transactions” at the company.
“His appointment significantly advances our work to complete the REIT spinoff, which will enable Windstream to accelerate network investments, reduce debt and maximize shareholder value,” Thomas said.
Windstream will hold a special stockholders meeting later this month to lay the groundwork for the REIT spinoff. Specifically, shareholders will be asked to approve a 1-for-6 reverse stock split and an amendment to subsidiary Windstream Corp.’s certificate of incorporation, which will convert Windstream Corp. into a limited liability company.
The company has said the conversion will prevent the company from incurring a tax liability of $600 million to $800 million.
Windstream plans to retain 19.9 percent of the shares of the REIT spinoff, with the remaining shares going to Windstream stockholders. The company will then sell off its shares over a 12-month period and use the proceeds to pay off debt. That is expected to cut the company’s debt by $4 billion.
Windstream has made a host of senior leadership changes following Gardner’s resignation. Joseph Harding was named executive vice president and enterprise chief marketing officer earlier this month.
In January, the company appointed Lewis Langston as chief information officer and Matt Dement as senior vice president of strategy, corporate development and financial planning & analysis. Earlier that month, Kevin Halpin was named senior vice president of process development and improvement, and Kristi Moody was named senior vice president of law and corporate secretary for the board of directors.
Bob Gunderman was named CFO in December, after serving in an interim capacity since Oct. 1, when Thomas was moved from that post to the REIT. Several other leadership changes were made the same day.
Sign up for Daily E-news
