(Bloomberg) -- Telecommunications company Crown Castle Inc. has reached an agreement with an EQT AB fund and Zayo Group Holdings Inc. for each to buy separate parts of its fiber business for a combined value of $8.5 billion.
The EQT Active Core Infrastructure fund will acquire Crown Castle’s small cells business, according to separate statements by the companies. Zayo, which is backed by EQT and DigitalBridge Group Inc., will independently acquire Crown Castle’s fiber solutions business.
Crown Castle, announcing the conclusion of its strategic review, said the transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2026, It also said it plans a roughly $3 billion share buyback program.
The sale allows Crown Castle to focus on its core business, which has about 40,000 towers throughout the US. That unit had 4.5% organic revenue growth in 2024, the company said.
“Selling our fiber segment represents a significant step on Crown Castle’s path towards a refined focus as a pure-play provider of multi-tenant tower assets,” Chief Executive Officer Steven Moskowitz said in the statement.
Shares of Crown Castle had sunk 14% in the past year, giving the company a market value of about $41 billion. The shares rose as much as 5.5% after the close of regular trading Thursday in New York.
Telecommunications companies and private equity firms have been pouring cash into fiber and digital-infrastructure providers to help fund expansion. Crown Castle’s wireless assets include a network of small cells — antennas that increase a wireless network’s capacity. Those are connected by fiber optic cable.
The unit being acquired by investment firm EQT operates 115,000 small cells on air or under contract across 43 states, providing capacity for high-demand areas lacking macro towers, according to EQT. It was valued in the transaction at about $4.25 billion, according to the statement.
“This investment is a natural fit within EQT Active Core Infrastructure’s strategy — investing behind long-term contracted, core infrastructure assets with strong growth potential.” Alexander Greenbaum, head of EQT’s Active Core Infrastructure Advisory team, said in the statement.
Zayo said the Crown Castle assets will add about 90,000 route miles of fiber to its network and increase its overall reach to more than 70,000 locations. Zayo agreed in 2019 to be taken private by DigitalBridge and EQT in a transaction valued at $14.3 billion.
Crown Castle launched a review of its fiber business in 2023 as part of a pact with activist investor Elliott Investment Management, which also won seats on the Houston-based real estate investment trust’s board.
The deal concludes the 15-month review that progressed in fits and starts. At the end of last year, TPG Inc. was nearing a deal to acquire both units, people familiar with the matter said at the time. Zayo later came back with a higher offer, Bloomberg reported previously.