American Tower to fund acquisition with revolvers, may issue debt

By Lisa Kerner

Charlotte, N.C., Sept. 6 - American Tower Corp. announced it agreed to acquire MIP Tower Holdings LLC for about $4.8 billion, including the assumption of debt of MIP's parent company Global Tower Partners.

"We expect to fund the remainder of the acquisition through a combination of our current liquidity of over $3.7 billion, which includes cash on hand and our existing capacity under our revolvers, plus potential future capital market issuances," American Tower chairman, president and chief executive officer Jim Taiclet said during a conference call on Friday.

Taiclet expects the deal to close in the fourth quarter and to increase his company's leverage to 5.8 times from an optimal range of 3 times to 5 times.

"We anticipate that we will begin a phase of rapid delevering through debt repayment and the impact of the growth of our adjusted EBITDA shortly after the transaction," Taiclet said.

When asked about refinancing the $1.5 billion of Global Tower Partners debt, American Tower executives said they are hopeful they can refinance the four tranches of debt, currently with an average rate of 4.7%, in the securitization market.

American Tower is a Boston-based owner and operator of communications towers.

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