US towerco SBA Communications intends to further expand into Brazil, despite the country’s weak economic environment.During a recent Q1 earnings call, SBA president and CEO Jeffrey Stoops said that while the company is disappointed with the negative…
US towerco SBA Communications intends to further expand into Brazil, despite the country’s weak economic environment.
During a recent Q1 earnings call, SBA president and CEO Jeffrey Stoops said that while the company is disappointed with the negative movement of the Brazilian real against the US dollar and the resulting impact on its 2015 outlook, it remains convinced that Brazil is an excellent long-term investment.
“While the near-term economic picture in Brazil is challenging, demographic trends, smartphone sales, network needs, new spectrum and the competitive carrier dynamic all lead us to continue to believe that Brazil will be a growth market for network investment for many years to come,” Stoops pointed out.
“Our investment focus for Brazil for the remainder of the year will likely focus on new builds and smaller acquisitions and we would like to reinvest all Brazilian reais we are generating back into the business,” he added.
Last December, SBA completed the purchase of 1, 641 mobile towers from Brazilian telco Oi for R$1.172bn (US$457m) through its local unit SBA Torres. Oi had previously sold another 4,100 sites to the tower operator in two separate transactions.
SBA, which was advised on the deal by Citigroup, currently owns 7,000 towers in Brazil.
Global expansion plans
Stoops also said that the company will look both domestically and internationally, particularly in the West, to find attractive opportunities that would meet its investment requirements.
“Our primary focus remains in the Western Hemisphere. Our new tower build activities are off to a good start and we are reaffirming our goal of 5% to 10% portfolio growth in 2015 while maintaining our target leverage levels. If we are successful in consummating some additional acquisitions, I would expect our 2015 outlook to increase,” he noted.