Blackstone (NYSE: BX) today announced that funds managed by Blackstone Tactical Opportunities (“Tac Opps”) have completed the successful recapitalization of Phoenix Tower International (“PTI”), a leading provider of wireless communications infrastructure. Tac Opps has raised $1.4 billion of dedicated capital for PTI to execute on its global business plan across the digital infrastructure sector.
Tac Opps initially invested in PTI in 2014, and over that time the business has grown to over 8,000 cell towers and related sites across 14 markets in three continents with a focus on USD / Euro-denominated contracts. PTI’s management team, led by Dagan Kasavana, CEO, and Tim Culver, Executive Chairman, has deployed over $3.5 billion of capital in the sector. Tac Opps expects to deploy substantial incremental capital for PTI to acquire and build wireless communications across the Americas and Europe.
Jasvinder Khaira, a Senior Managing Director with Blackstone Tactical Opportunities, said: “We are very proud of the success of our PTI platform and pleased to be able to continue investing behind our thesis on the fundamental attractiveness of the wireless infrastructure business model, which is backed by exponential growth in data connectivity demand. We continue to see compelling opportunities across the digital infrastructure space, and this fundraise provides a dedicated pool of capital for us to continue investing behind this theme.”
Dagan Kasavana, CEO of Phoenix Tower International, stated: “We are excited to continue our fantastic partnership with Tac Opps and the completion of this fundraise represents a further confirmation of our business plan. As our customers shift towards their 5G build-out needs, they require well-capitalized infrastructure providers that they trust with a mandate to work with them globally and across all of their infrastructure needs. PTI has the track record, expertise and balance sheet to be a market leader in the coming years with Blackstone’s ongoing support.”
PJT Partners/Park Hill Group served as advisor to the fundraise, and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP served as legal counsel to Blackstone.
About Blackstone
Blackstone is one of the world’s leading investment firms. We seek to create positive economic impact and long-term value for our investors, the companies we invest in, and the communities in which we work. We do this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help companies solve problems. Our asset management businesses, with $571 billion in assets under management, include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, growth equity, opportunistic, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds, all on a global basis. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow Blackstone on Twitter @Blackstone.
About Tactical Opportunities
Tactical Opportunities (Tac Opps) is Blackstone’s opportunistic investment platform. The Tac Opps team invests globally across asset classes, industries and geographies, seeking to identify and execute on attractive, differentiated investment opportunities. As part of the strategy, the team leverages the intellectual capital across Blackstone’s various businesses while continuously optimizing its approach in the face of ever-changing market conditions.
About Phoenix Tower International
Phoenix Tower International (“PTI”) owns and manages over 8,000 towers, 986 km of fiber and over 80,000 other wireless infrastructure and related sites in 14 countries including the United States, across Latin America, and France.
PTI was founded in 2013 with a mission to be a premier wireless infrastructure provider to wireless operators across the world in high-growth markets. For more information, please visit www.phoenixintnl.com.
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