Sarasota firm acquires 85 wireless towers

SARASOTA — Grain Management, a Sarasota-based private equity firm that also owns and operates wireless towers and related infrastructure across North America, acquired 85 towers from Ntelos Holdings Corp.

The acquisition, according to a release, provides nearly $2.2 million in cash flow. Specific terms of the deal weren't released.

Grain will also acquire up to an additional 18 towers from Ntelos throughout 2015, the release adds. Waynesboro, Va.-based Ntelos is a regional provider of digital wireless communications services, with customers in Virginia and West Virginia, in addition to parts of Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Kentucky.

“This acquisition fits well with Grain's strategy of acquiring underutilized sites and creating additional value over time,” says Grain Management founder and Managing Partner David Grain. “And the geographic concentration of the Ntelos sites provides the type of growth opportunity that we find attractive.”

Grain Management, with offices in Sarasota and Washington, D.C., focuses on investments in the media and communications sectors. The firm manages funds for a number of the country's leading academic institutions, endowments and public pension funds.