Houlihan Lokey Advises Skyway Towers

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce the successful sale of Skyway Towers, a developer, owner, and operator of multi-tenant communications towers across the United States, to Basalt Infrastructure Partners’ third flagship fund (Basalt III) from Tinicum LP and affiliated entities. The transaction closed on May 25, 2022.

Skyway Towers, a leading wireless communications tower developer with 424 completed towers and an advanced development pipeline across the U.S. for fast and easy collocation, was founded by a management team with roots in the mobile network operator industry. Skyway Towers, previously backed by Tinicum, is consistently recognized by its customers as one of the most responsive and streamlined tower companies in the country.

Basalt, across its three flagship funds, collectively manages ~$5.5 billion of infrastructure equity investment focused on mid-market investments in utilities, power, transport, and communications infrastructure in North America and Europe. The transaction is Basalt’s first digital infrastructure investment in North America and demonstrates the growing emphasis that North American telecommunications assets have in the portfolios of transatlantic infrastructure funds.

Houlihan Lokey was engaged as the exclusive financial advisor to Skyway given the firm's deep relationship with the Skyway management team going back more than 20 years—including a previous sale of a portfolio of towers to American Tower a decade ago—and nearly 25 years of experience working with the tower sector’s key decision-makers across the operator and investor community. Recent experience includes advising on the sale of highly sought-after tower portfolios belonging to Cumulus Media, ComSites West, and Municipal Communications, among others. Advising on the sale of Skyway further solidifies Houlihan Lokey as a market-leading provider of advisory services to the rapidly evolving digital infrastructure sector. Additionally, this transaction further deepens Houlihan Lokey’s foothold in the tower sector, which continues to see increasing levels of M&A, premium valuations, and an influx of capital from new buyer pools.

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