Brazilian operator Oi has completed the sale of 2,007 mobile sites to the local subsidiary of US towerco SBA Communications for R$1.53bn (US$671m).
The disposal is part of Oi’s on-going efforts to address its debt pile, which stood at R$30.4bn…
Brazilian operator Oi has completed the sale of 2,007 mobile sites to the local subsidiary of US towerco SBA Communications for R$1.53bn (US$671m).
The disposal is part of Oi’s on-going efforts to address its debt pile, which stood at R$30.4bn (US$13.4bn) at the end of 2013.
Oi previously said it would use the proceeds to extend its debt maturities, reduce financing costs and strengthen its liquidity. It is also open to selling more of its towers.
Oi is in the process of merging with Portugal Telecom and that transaction will include a new share of up to R$14bn (US$6.2bn) to recapitalise Oi, although the capital raise has been temporarily suspended due to recent comments made by Oi’s CEO.
The tower sale to SBA is the second transaction the companies have executed within the year. The US towerco had previously acquired the long-term rights to 2,113 towers for R$687m (US$304m).
SBA previously said it planned to increase the tenant-per-tower ratio on the latest portfolio it had acquired, which currently stands at 1.6. Oi will remain the primary tenant as part of a leaseback deal.
SBA CEO Jeffrey Stoops previously said the portfolio was “concentrated in the most populous areas of Brazil”.
The US company’s local subsidiary, SBA Torres Brasil, now has the rights to more than 5,000 towers in the country. Speaking on a conference call in February, Stoops said that increasing the towerco’s portfolio in Brazil was still of interest, although acknowledged that “now having gotten to scale, we believe that our strategic needs have been satisfied”.