Everest Infrastructure Partners Continues Impressive Winning Streak
Sometimes when a baseball player is on a hot streak, his teammates avoid mentioning it just in case the mere awareness could interrupt it and cause a strikeout.
But that has not been the concern for Everest Infrastructure Partners, one of the hottest private equity firms in the telecommunications space. Their meteoric growth over a very short period of time is starting to attract some major new limited partners, many of them removing their portfolios from other PE funds in competing firms to get in on the action.
Near the end of last year, Everest acquired 100 existing tenant leases for wireless towers located in Northern California from ComSites West. This build on the momentum of a massive international expansion into a lucrative growth market, when Everest acquired more than 25 tower sites in South East Queensland, Australia. Not satisfied with just that, the firm also grabbed two portfolios of sites in Idaho and a slew of properties in the Midwest. They even bought the City of Akron’s cell tower infrastructure portfolio for $11 million in late 2017.
“We are tremendously pleased that the ComSites team and investors chose to work with Everest on this transaction,” said Mike Mackey, President of Everest. “These sites are incredibly unique locations serving the broadband and broadcast needs of network operators in the San Francisco Bay area, Sacramento, and throughout Northern California. California is our largest market and our most active region for developing new towers to support the evolving networks of our customers. We see tremendous potential to enhance the value of our overall portfolio with the addition of these tower sites.”
Though the Pittsburgh-based fund has shown strength in California and internationally with these acquisitions, they insist that they are not a regional operator. Two years ago, for example, Everest made a significant acquisition in the Northeast United States, acquiring Boston-based Varsity Wireless, an owner, operator and manager of wireless communications facilities.
The deal includes Varsity’s portfolio of communications towers in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, its tower development pipeline of more than 50 wireless communications sites, and its multi-carrier indoor distributed antenna system in the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. The last is a new type of investment for Everest.
“It’s an advanced wireless system serving the customers’ broadband needs in the venue and we have exclusive rights in the building for this multi-vendor network and a long-term deal,” said Everest CEO Matt Newton. “Venues like sporting arenas are showcase facilities and it’s an area in wireless communications that’s growing quite rapidly. It’s not a core focus for us, but I think we’ll be opportunistic and interested to pursue other opportunities with indoor facilities.”
The sky seems the limit for this fund’s growth opportunities, and the sharp money is beginning to take notice.