Vertical Bridge, Verizon agreed to $3.3 billion deal that covers more than 6,300 towers
Vertical Bridge has officially closed on its $3.3 billion tower transaction with Verizon.
Vertical Bridge is acquired exclusive rights to lease, operate and manage more than 6,300 Verizon wireless communications towers in all 50 states.
When the deal was announced back in September 2024, Ron Bizick, president and CEO of Vertical Bridge, said that it was the largest U.S. tower transaction in nearly a decade and a major step towards the realization of the company’s long-term strategy.
The 6,339 communications towers are owned by various subsidiaries of Verizon, which retains ownership of the towers and is entering into a 10-year lease-back of capacity as the anchor tenant on the towers, with options to extent up to 50 years.
Verizon already has an existing build-to-suit joint venture with Vertical Bridge, based on a deal made in 2023 in order to support rapid expansion of Verizon’s 4G and 5G infrastructure.
The tower transaction is being structured as a prepaid lease with $2.8 billion in cash upfront. Both Vertical Bridge’s parent company DigitalBridge and global investment company CDPQ, which is a large shareholder in Vertical Bridge, contributed to the financing of the transaction, which company executives described as pivotal for the company’s realization of its long-term strategy.
“The close of this transaction marks a transformative milestone for Vertical Bridge, solidifying us as the partner of choice in the U.S. communications infrastructure industry. These under-tenanted towers, many in hard-to-site locations, uniquely position us to expand vertical real estate solutions to our customers,” said Bizick in a statement on the closing of the tower deal. “With the addition of these towers, Vertical Bridge looks forward to growing our partnership with all our tenants.”
Vertical Bridge also purchased 226 towers from Shenandoah Telecommunications (Shentel) for $310.3 million in cash earlier this year.
