Boston-headquartered American Tower has priced US$1.25bn of senior unsecured notes as it looks to repay some of its debt and finance recent acquisitions.
The two-tranche offering comes hot on the heels of the towerco’s US$811m acquisition of sites in…
Boston-headquartered American Tower has priced US$1.25bn of senior unsecured notes as it looks to repay some of its debt and finance recent acquisitions.
The two-tranche offering comes hot on the heels of the towerco’s US$811m acquisition of sites in Brazil and Mexico announced last week, which it is partly funding through borrowings.
The first US$750m tranche, which carries a coupon of 3.4%, priced at 99.911 with a yield equivalent to a spread of 195 basis points over US Treasuries. It matures in 2019.
The second tranche, for US$500m, is due in 2024. These notes offer 5% interest and priced at 99.888 to yield 230 basis points over US Treasuries.
American Tower said proceeds would be used to finance recently announced acquisitions, pay back debts on its 2013 credit facility and/or other credit facilities, and for general corporate purposes.
Citigroup, BofA Merrill Lynch, Mizuho, Morgan Stanley and TD Securities are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering. Moody’s, S&P and Fitch rated the offering Baa3, BB+ and BBB respectively.
CFO talks up US opportunities
The towerco is showing no signs of moving away from its highly acquisitive strategy, as confirmed by CFO Tom Bartlett in a Q&A at the Oppenheimer Technology, Internet & Communications Conference.
Bartlett said that American Tower was looking to expand within markets it was already operating in.
When asked about making acquisitions in the US market, the CFO said: “There are still quite sizable portfolios of towers that are available…Verizon and AT&T still own significant portfolios – 10,000-plus sites.”
He said that smaller towercos owned by private equity firms and regional wireless operators may also provide opportunities in the US market.
American Tower operates in the United States, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, India, Germany, Ghana, India, Mexico, Peru, South Africa and Uganda, and owns a total of 56,000 sites across these countries.
