Vertical Bridge gains over 200 tower sites
Independent wireless infrastructure company CiG Wireless announced it has entered into an agreement to be acquired by an affiliate company of Vertical Bridge Holdings. CiG Wireless’ tower portfolio, which includes more than 200 geographically widespread tower sites, will be acquired by Vertical Bridge as part of the merger, with the all-cash deal being valued at $143 million.
Vertical Bridge is a relatively new and quickly rising company in the wireless infrastructure space, having been founded in 2014 by Digital Bridge Holdings and executives from Global Tower Partners. The company is a privately owned real estate investment trust that specializes in communications towers, exclusively in the United States as of this time. Last November it was reported that Vertical Bridge received substantial funding and acquired 23 tower sites, then in December the company acquired towers from both U.S. Cellular and IHeartMedia.
“This transaction brings together two complementary cellular tower operators, and the combined business will have a broad geographic presence across the United States,” said Paul McGinn, CEO of CiG Wireless.
“We have known Paul and the rest of the CiG Wireless team as competitors and partners over the course of many years, and we look forward to them joining our team,” said Alexander Gellman, CEO and co-founder of Vertical Bridge.
Both companies are eyeing the second quarter of 2015 as the completion date of the deal, which has received favorable support from parties on both sides. After the deal closes, current CiG Wireless employees will become Vertical Bridge employees. More details on the transaction will be forthcoming in CiG Wireless’ filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission and will also be shared with company shareholders.
