Harmoni Towers said that the combined company will own and operate towers across 41 states in the U.S.
Harmoni Towers, which is owned by investment company Palistar Capital, announced that it has agreed to acquire Parallel Infrastructure from funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management.
The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Harmoni Towers said that the transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of this year.
The acquisition creates the fifth-largest tower company and the second-largest private independent tower company in the U.S., with more than 2,000 built and in-construction towers, according to a Harmoni release. The combined company will own and operate towers across 41 states, with the capacity to build hundreds of towers per year in all regions of the U.S.
In 2020, Apollo had acquired Parallel and has doubled its size in the two years since, the companies said.
Harmoni, which says it currently has more than 1,000 sites constructed or in development, owns, operates, and builds mission-critical communications infrastructure and is focused on the acquisition and construction of communication networks. Parallel is based in Charlotte, North Carolina, and focuses on the design, build, ownership and management of critical telecommunications infrastructure. It has a cell tower portfolio of about 1,000 sites.
“Palistar expects, over time, to deploy in excess of $1 billion via equity and debt financing into the combined platform in order to promote the expansion of the business. Building upon our long-term view of the wireless ecosystem and the continued implementation of 5G and the explosive demand for data, this is a fantastic opportunity for Harmoni, Parallel, Palistar and our entire ecosystem of customers and vendors to provide a truly national footprint to deliver carrier-grade solutions,” said Omar Jaffrey, managing partner and founder of Palistar.
Lawrence Gleason, CEO of Harmoni Towers, added: “This transaction (…) enables us to even better serve our carrier customers with an enhanced and fully scaled base of installed towers across the country, as well as provide one of the largest and most robust tower building platforms in the United States.”
American Tower, Crown Castle, SBA Communications, and Vertical Bridge are the largest tower operators in the U.S. According to web site Wireless Estimator, American Tower had 42.965 towers in the U.S. as of the end of August, followed by Crown Castle (40,567), SBA Communications (17,395) and Vertical Bridge (5,089).
Other firms with more than 1,000 towers in the U.S. include United States Cellular, Diamond Communications, Harmoni Towers and Peppertree Capital, according to Wireless Estimator.
