Crown Castle Announces Sale of Australian Subsidiary

HOUSTON, May 14, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Crown Castle International Corp. (NYSE:CCI) (“Crown Castle”) announced today that it has signed a definitive agreement to sell its Australian subsidiary (“CCAL”) to a consortium of investors led by Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $2.0 billion in cash (“Transaction”), or approximately US$1.6 billion assuming an exchange rate of 0.80 US dollars to 1.0 Australian dollar. CCAL is 77.6% owned by Crown Castle. Upon consummation of the Transaction, Crown Castle expects to receive net proceeds of approximately US$1.3 billion after accounting for its ownership interest, repayment of intercompany debt owed to it by CCAL and estimated transaction fees and expenses. The Transaction is expected to close during the second quarter of 2015. Crown Castle expects to use the net proceeds from the Transaction to finance its previously announced acquisition of Sunesys and for general corporate purposes, including the repayment of certain of its indebtedness.

“The sale of CCAL allows us to redeploy capital towards our growing small cell networks, which we expect will be accretive to our long-term AFFO and dividend per share growth rates,” stated Ben Moreland, Crown Castle’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “We believe we are in the early stages of small cells deployment and are excited by the opportunities that we see ahead of us. While CCAL has been a great contributor to our business, our decision to divest this business is opportunistic and allows us to re-allocate capital to growth enhancing initiatives in the US market, which we believe is the most attractive wireless market in the world for wireless investment. I would like to thank our friends and colleagues at CCAL who, since CCAL’s establishment in 2000, have built CCAL into the leading tower operator in Australia.”

CCAL was expected to contribute approximately US$97 million to US$102 million to Crown Castle’s previously provided full year 2015 Outlook for Adjusted EBITDA of $2.145 billion to $2.160 billion. Further, CCAL was expected to contribute approximately US$58 million to US$63 million to Crown Castle’s previously provided full year 2015 Outlook for Adjusted Funds from Operations of $1.450 billion to $1.465 billion, respectively. Crown Castle’s full year 2015 Outlook was previously provided on April 22, 2015 and assumed an exchange rate of 0.76 US dollars to 1.0 Australian dollar for the second, third and fourth quarter of 2015.

ABOUT CCAL
Since its establishment in 2000, CCAL has grown to become the largest independent tower operator in Australia with a nationwide portfolio of approximately 1,800 sites providing significant wireless communications coverage to substantially all Australians throughout all States and Territories. Crown Castle Australia’s customers include major mobile telecommunications carriers such as Optus, Telstra and Vodafone Hutchison Australia; wireless broadband service providers such as NBN Co.; and key emergency service network providers.

ABOUT CROWN CASTLE
Crown Castle provides wireless carriers with the infrastructure they need to keep people connected and businesses running. With approximately 40,000 towers and 14,000 small cell nodes supported by approximately 7,000 miles of fiber, Crown Castle is the nation’s largest provider of shared wireless infrastructure with a significant presence in the top 100 US markets. In addition, Crown Castle operates approximately 1,800 towers in Australia. For more information on Crown Castle, please visit www.crowncastle.com.