Monroe Capital, Oak Hill Advisors and Barclays Bank, acting as administrative agent, closed a $325 million credit facility to support Vertical Bridge REIT’s merger with Eco-Site and the combined company’s future development of build-to-suit locations in the United States.
Based in Boca Raton, FL, Vertical Bridge is a private owner and operator of communications infrastructure. The Eco-Site merger increases Vertical Bridge’s owned and master-leased tower portfolio to more than 20,000 sites and its entire portfolio to more than 307,000 sites located in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. Together, Vertical Bridge and Eco-Site have built more than 1,700 towers over the past five years.
“We are appreciative of Monroe, OHA and Barclays’ efforts to close on a complex transaction on an accelerated timetable,” Mike Romaniw, CFO of Vertical Bridge, said. “The lending group was able to mobilize quickly with their sector and structuring expertise to get the transaction closed efficiently.”
“We are excited to partner with Vertical Bridge as a world-class owner and operator of communications towers and look forward to supporting its continued growth and its leading build-to-suit program,” Ted Koenig, president and CEO of Monroe Capital, said.
“We are also pleased to partner with Oak Hill and Barclays as co-lenders on this transaction,” Kyle Asher, co-head of the opportunistic credit group at Monroe Capital, said. “While many competitors were impacted by COVID, our opportunistic private credit group has continued to identify and execute on opportunities in niche, specialized areas like real estate, specialty finance and litigation finance.”
“We are pleased to partner with Vertical Bridge and are excited about growing our relationship with its impressive team,” Greg Leveto, portfolio manager at Oak Hill Advisors, said. “This transaction highlights OHA’s expertise in providing unique and flexible financing solutions in private credit and real asset markets. We look forward to expanding our relationships with high-quality communications infrastructure companies like Vertical Bridge as we continue to capitalize on the evolving market opportunity.”
