NEW YORK-Moody’s Investors Service has assigned a speculative grade liquidity rating of SGL-3 to tower owner and operator Crown Castle International Corp.
Moody’s said that the company has “ample cash position and comfortable convenant cushion on its two U.S. credit facilities,” but added that the rating is, however, “constrained by the currently cash consuming state of the company’s operations, as well as the continuing technical default under the company’s U.K. credit facility.” CCI is expected to cure the default in the near future, the rating service said, and the affect on its liquidity at that time is uncertain.
While all of the major U.S. tower operators have been affected by cuts in spending by wireless carriers, CCI appears to currently hold the most favorable financial position, compared with the rest. Wednesday afternoon, CCI was trading at $2.18 per share; American Tower Corp., which said Tuesday it will release its third quarter results on November 8, was trading at $1.49; SBA Communications Corp. was down almost 19 percent for the day, trading at 75 cents and SpectraSite Holdings Inc. was at 8 cents.
