CROWN CASTLE INC. acquires Lightower (LTS Group Holdings LLC)

CROWN CASTLE INC. acquired Lightower (LTS Group Holdings LLC) for approximately $7.1 billion, a transaction completed in November 2017, structured as all cash.

Lightower (LTS Group Holdings LLC) operates in Fiber / small cells, is based in Northeast U.S. (Boston, New York, Philadelphia); ~32,000 route miles of fiber. LTS Group Holdings LLC, operating as Lightower, a fiber services provider that owned or had rights to approximately 32,000 route miles of fiber located primarily in top metro markets in the Northeast, including Boston, New York and Philadelphia. Crown Castle acquired Lightower from Berkshire Partners, Pamlico and other investors for approximately $7.1 billion in cash. The addition brought Crown Castle's fiber footprint to over 60,000 route miles.

Enhances Crown Castle's position as the largest provider of shared wireless infrastructure in the U.S. with approximately 40,000 towers, 50,000 small cell nodes on air or under development and 60,000 route miles of fiber pro forma; significantly increases small cell network deployment opportunities in top Northeast metro markets.

Attractive dense-metro fiber footprint concentrated in high-value Northeast markets, expected to be immediately accretive to AFFO per share and to long-term growth rates. Expected increase of $0.15 to $0.20 per share in the annual common stock dividend rate after closing; raised long-term annual dividend growth target from 6%-7% to 7%-8%. Crown Castle fiber / small cells segment