Monday, December 12, 2011

American Tower to buy 2,500 towers in Mexico

By Rodney Brown

Just a few months after pricing a $500 million notes sale, American Tower Corp. has entered into agreements pay approximately $500 million for about 2,500 broadcast and wireless towers in Mexico.

According to a release from American Tower, (NYSE: AMT) Telefónica’s Mexican subsidiary, Pegaso PCS S.A. de C.V. will sell the towers in a deal that Boston-based AMT says should close by the end of this year. The sale is subject to what AMT describes as “regulatory approval and customary closing conditions.”

James Taiclet, chairman, president and CEO of American Tower, said in the release that the acquisition of the 2.500 towers “nearly doubles” the company’s portfolio of tower assets in Mexico. In total, American Tower says it now has approximately 40,000 communications sites in the United States, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ghana, India, Mexico, Peru and South Africa.

The notes offering was expected to bring in approximately $495 million to American Tower when it priced it in early October.  The senior unsecured notes are due Nov. 1, 2021.

In July, American Tower agreed to pay $182 million to buy 2,126 wireless towers in Colombia. The company said at the time it would buy the towers through a subsidiary, which had yet to be formed. America Tower was acquiring the towers from a subsidiary of Millicom International Cellular S.A.