Global Signal Inc. will acquire 235 wireless communications towers from private tower venture Lattice Communications L.L.C. for $115 million.
The towers are primarily located in Indiana, Ohio, Alabama, Kansas and Georgia. The towers’ tenants include the top six wireless carriers and subsidiaries of Cinergy Corp., which uses the sites for its private communications and microwave network. The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter.
Lattice said it will retain the 80 remaining towers it owns or has under development.
The acquisition brings Global Signal’s tower portfolio to more than 3,300 towers or other communication sites.
Analysts have named Global Signal as a potential buyer of Sprint Corp.’s Sprint Sites USA tower business, although Sprint’s reported $1 billion purchase price has been deemed exorbitant.
Along with the acquisition, Global Signal announced its quarterly financial results this week, for the first time since its initial public offering closed in June.
Net income reached $5.1 million, or 11 cents per share, compared with $5.5 million, or 13 cents per share, for the second quarter of 2003. EBITDA, known as earnings before interest, income tax expense, depreciation, amortization, accretion and non-cash stock-based compensation expense, totaled $24.5 million, or 52 cents per share, compared with $21.4 million, or 50 cents per share, for the second quarter of 2003.
“We are pleased with the results of our first quarter since the completion of our IPO in early June. Wireless demand drivers continue to fuel the growth in our business,” said Wesley Edens, Global Signal’s chairman and chief executive officer. “We expect that our ability to generate stable dividends and realize growth will differentiate us from our competitors.”
SBA Communications Corp. also reported second quarter results this week.
SBA recorded total revenues of $56.3 million, up from $46 million in the year-earlier period. Of that, site-leasing revenues made up $35.5 million, increasing 11.8 percent from the year-ago period. Tower cash flow reached $24.8 million, up 17.6 percent over last year. Meanwhile, revenues from site development were $20.9 million, up from last year’s $14.3 million. SBA said it has sold portions of its western region services business and is continuing efforts to sell the rest.
SBA recorded a net loss of $23.2 million, or 41 cents per share, improved from a loss of $67.6 million, or $1.32 per share, last year. EBITDA, defined by SBA as losses from continuing operations plus net interest expenses, taxes, depreciation, accretion and amortization, was $19.5 million, up from $15.9 million a year ago.
SBA said it owned 3,045 towers at the end of the quarter, excluding 32 held for sale.
The company expects to report total revenues between $53 million and $57.5 million for the third quarter and $214 million to $226 million for full-year 2004.
In other tower-earnings related news, Crown Castle International Corp., which released its results earlier this week, adjusted its reported site rental revenue upward by $1.2 million to $131.4 million to reflect a computational error.
