Lendlease acquired Parallel Infrastructure in 2017 from Florida East Coast Industries for an undisclosed sum and rebranded it. Now the business has been acquired by “certain funds managed by affiliates of Apollo”, and the Parallel Infrastructure brand resurrected.
Along with the business itself, the transaction included the portfolio of 500 operating macro cell towers across the US, and several hundred more under contract or in late-stage development
“Parallel Infrastructure is an established, critical infrastructure business that’s positioned for significant growth driven by increased data consumption and the continued shift to 5G networks across the United States,” said Dylan Foo, senior partner and co-head of infrastructure at Apollo.
“Our corporate carve-out experience was critical to the transaction and setting the business up for future growth.”
American Tower’s former VP for Latam, Yannis Macheras, has been appointed CEO of Parallel Infrastructure and will lead the management team from its headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Macheras said: “We’re thrilled to work with Apollo to grow our infrastructure portfolio. Dylan and the team have a track record of creating long-term value in the infrastructure asset class, and we believe their support will accelerate our strategy and add to the toolkit of what we can offer to our customers.”
The Company counts all major US wireless carriers as customers, including AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile, which lease space on towers under long-term contracts and this latest change of ownership builds on Apollo’s 30-year track record in which managed funds have invested more than US$20 billion in infrastructure-related opportunities.
Apollo’s infrastructure business is currently investing out of its second dedicated infrastructure fund. The infrastructure team is led by senior partners Dylan Foo and Geoff Strong, and focuses on opportunities in communications, power and renewables, transportation and midstream energy.
Meanwhile, Lendlease’s MD of property Jason Alderman, said the funds raised from the sale would be reinvested across its US operations.
“Since the original acquisition, Lendlease has scaled this platform to over 450 towers, and we are very pleased that Parallel Infrastructure will be given the opportunity for continued growth under Apollo Funds’ ownership and the leadership of the existing management team,” said Jason Alderman, managing director, property at Lendlease.
“We look forward to recycling the capital into our growing US development and investment businesses.”
