LatAm-focused NII Holdings has closed the sale and leaseback of a portfolio of Mexican towers to American Tower for US$374m.
NII had originally agreed to sell the US giant 1,666 of Nextel Mexico’s towers for US$398m, but that number has now decreased…
LatAm-focused NII Holdings has closed the sale and leaseback of a portfolio of Mexican towers to American Tower for US$374m.
NII had originally agreed to sell the US giant 1,666 of Nextel Mexico’s towers for US$398m, but that number has now decreased to 1,483.
When the transaction was first announced, the companies said they expected the sale to complete in Q4, but did not expect to get approval for the transfer of all the towers by that point.
American Tower struck a deal with NII in August to buy 4,456 sites cross Mexico and Brazil for US$811m. The consideration for the sale is made up of reals and pesos for the respective portfolios, meaning the dollar amount is subject to fluctuation.
In a statement NII said it remained on track to complete the Brazilian sale before the end of the year, but added it would only be for the sites that had “satisfied the necessary closing conditions”.
NII has agreed to lease space on all of the towers for the next 12 years and has the option to extend the contracts. Meanwhile American Tower will focus on leasing out space on the towers to other tenants and expects the sites to generate US$149m in annual run rate revenues and US$55m in annual gross margin.
NII decided to sell the towers in Brazil and Mexico – along with its operations in Argentina, Chile and Peru – in February this year as part of a strategic shift.
It will invest the proceeds into its core markets of Brazil and Mexico where it is looking to improve its next generation networks. NII’s CEO previously said these markets offer “the best opportunity for value creation and long-term growth and profitability”.
Evercore was American Tower’s financial adviser and Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton was its legal adviser. Deutsche Bank acted as financial adviser to NII and Jones Day and Lape Mansfield Nakasian & Gibson were its legal advisers.
