The American telecommunications company Crown Castle Inc. has entered into an agreement with the fund of the Swedish investment company EQT AB and Zayo Group Holdings Inc. to sell part of the assets of the fiber-optic business for $8.5 billion. This is reported in a press release from Crown Castle.
As part of the deal, the EQT Active Core Infrastructure fund will acquire Crown Castle's small cell division, and Zayo, controlled by EQT and DigitalBridge Group Inc., will buy out the assets of the fiber technology development division.
The Small Cell division manages 115,000 small cells in 43 states, providing capacity in regions with high demand and no macro towers. Crown Castle's wireless assets include a network of small antenna cells that increase the bandwidth of a wireless network and are connected by a fiber optic cable. The value of the assets is estimated at $4.25 billion.
The assets acquired by the Zayo Group will add about 90,000 miles of fiber to the company's network and increase total coverage to 70,000 points.
The transaction is expected to be completed in the first half of 2026. At the same time, Crown Castle intends to launch a share buyback program worth about $3 billion.
The deal is in line with Crown Castle's desire to focus on its core business of managing 40,000 towers in the United States. In 2023, Crown Castle conducted a review of the fiber business as part of an agreement with activist investor Elliott Investment Management. In 2024, Crown Castle shares lost 14%, lowering the company's market value to $41 billion.
Crown Castle is a telecommunications company and wireless infrastructure operator. The company owns, builds and leases towers and distributed antenna systems in leading wireless markets. The headquarters is located in Houston, Texas, with 100 offices in different countries and 85,000 miles of fiber.
EQT AB is a Swedish multinational private equity, infrastructure, real estate, and venture capital investment company in Europe, North America, and the Asia-Pacific region. EQT manages reserves worth 210 billion euros ($227 billion).
Zayo Group is an American telecommunications company with headquarters in Denver (Colorado) and a European head office in London (England). The company's clients include wireless carriers, Internet service providers, businesses, and government agencies. In 2019, DigitalBridge and EQT acquired Zayo for $14.3 billion.
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