Fengate Asset Management, a Toronto, Canada-based infrastructure, private equity, and real estate investor, today announced it has completed the acquisition of a portfolio of 42 U.S. wireless communications towers from Municipal Communications II, an independent tower company, backed by Seaport Capital, a private equity firm. Specifically, these towers are located in seven states across the Southeast and Midwest United States and will be managed by Fengate’s portfolio company, TowerCom LLC.
Fengate is acquiring Municipal Communications II’s 42 towers through its Fengate Infrastructure Yield Fund, including an investment fund owned by LiUNA’s Pension Fund of Central and Eastern Canada.
Finally, Seaport Capital has been an investor in Municipal Communications II since December 2018.
Municipal Communications II – Overview
Municipal Communications II develops, owns, and operates cellular towers for wireless carriers in the Northeast, Southeast, and Midwest United States.
As shown in the map below, key states of activity for Municipal Communications II include Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas.
History
Peter Corry, founder and CEO of Municipal Communications II, previously partnered with Seaport Capital in 2010 through Municipal Communications. Ultimately, Municipal Communications’ prior tower portfolio, comprising ~75 sites, was sold to American Tower in Q3 2018. Notably, this tower portfolio had a significant concentration of sites in the states of Alabama, Georgia, and North Dakota.
Prior to founding Municipal Communications in 2010, Peter Corry was co-founder and President of tower company CitySwitch, a joint venture with Norfolk Southern Corporation.
TowerCom LLC – Fengate Portfolio Company
Fengate Asset Management’s portfolio company TowerCom LLC will manage the 42 towers from Municipal Communications II. Notably, in September 2020, Fengate closed an equity investment and provided a future capital commitment for TowerCom to develop a portfolio of build-to-suit (BTS) wireless communications towers in the U.S.
At the time, Fengate invested alongside Boston-based M/C Partners, a private equity firm, who initially backed TowerCom in May 2020. Fengate invested through its Fengate Core Infrastructure Fund III, including an investment fund of LiUNA.
Overview
TowerCom has its headquarters in Jacksonville, Florida and is a developer and owner of U.S. wireless communications towers. Specifically, the company develops new tower builds for national and regional wireless carriers, primarily in the Southeast and Southwest U.S.
TowerCom’s overall customers include Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T, DISH Network, U.S. Cellular, SouthernLinc, Pine Belt Communications, and Alabama Power.
History
TowerCom LLC was established in 2007 and is led by its founder, Chairman, and CEO W. Radford Lovett II. Furthermore, Lovett has founded prior iterations of TowerCom, namely TowerCom, Ltd, a broadcast towers owner, as far back as 1994.
Fengate Asset Management – Overview
Fengate Asset Management is a Toronto, Canada-based investment manager focused on strategies in infrastructure, private equity, and real estate. Beyond TowerCom LLC and Municipal Communications II’s 42 towers from Seaport Capital, Fengate has also invested in the data center sub-sector of digital infrastructure.
Within data centers, Fengate Asset Management owns a stake in eStruxture, a Canadian carrier-neutral data center operator. Overall, eStruxture operates 14 facilities comprising total IT capacity of 100 megawatts, with a significant presence in Montreal and Toronto.
