Crown Castle Reiterates Actions Underway to Enhance and Unlock Shareholder Value
Rejects Slate of Directors Nominated by Ted Miller for Election to Crown Castle's Board
Company Remains Focused on CEO Search and Fiber Review
No Shareholder Action Required at This Time
HOUSTON, Feb. 20, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Crown Castle Inc. (NYSE:CCI) ("Crown Castle" or the "Company") today confirmed that Boots Capital Management, LLC ("Boots Capital"), which is led by Ted Miller, has nominated four candidates to stand for election to Crown Castle's Board of Directors ("Board") at the Company's 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. Mr. Miller is a co-founder of Crown Castle and resigned as CEO and a Director of the Company in 2001 and 2002, respectively.
After careful consideration of Mr. Miller and his nominees, which included interviews by members of the Crown Castle Board, the Board unanimously determined not to recommend anyone from the Boots Capital slate for election at the Company's upcoming Annual Meeting.
The Crown Castle Board and management team are confident in the actions the Company is taking to remain well positioned for long term success and shareholder value creation. In particular, during the last two months the Company has made significant strides forward toward creating a stronger and more valuable Crown Castle, including:
- Initiated a comprehensive strategic and operating review of the fiber business, the formation of a fiber review committee and the appointment of Paul, Weiss, Morgan Stanley, BofA Securities and leading industry consultants to advise on the fiber review process.
- Appointed three new independent directors, resulting in a total of seven of the twelve directors having been appointed to the Board since 2020. Crown Castle's three recent board member additions include Sunit Patel, the former CFO of Level-3 and former EVP of T-Mobile, Jason Genrich, a shareholder representative from one of the Company's largest investors, Elliott Investment Management L.P., and Bradley Singer, the former CFO of American Tower and former COO and an Investment Partner at ValueAct Capital.
- Appointed Tony Melone as interim CEO following the retirement of former CEO Jay Brown, and the formation of a CEO search committee, which has hired a leading executive search firm to help identify the next CEO of Crown Castle.
The Crown Castle Board and management team value constructive dialogue with shareholders and regularly engage with an open mind to better understand their perspectives on the Company's strategy, performance and business objectives. Accordingly, members of the Board and management team have engaged in multiple discussions with Mr. Miller since late last year, including providing Mr. Miller as well as his director candidates and his advisors the opportunity to make a presentation to the Board. While we recognize Mr. Miller's contributions to the formation of Crown Castle more than twenty years ago, Boots Capital's nominees do not possess the relevant expertise and experience to successfully oversee Crown Castle's strategy.
The Board will present its formal recommendation regarding election of directors to the Company's Board in the Company's definitive proxy statement, to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and mailed to all shareholders eligible to vote at the 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which, as previously announced, has been scheduled for May 22, 2024. Shareholders are not required to take any action at this time.
Boots Capital issued a press release attaching a letter that its counsel sent to the Company's counsel. A copy of the response that the Company delivered to Boots Capital's counsel can be found here: http://ml.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/2c556d21-62b3-4e20-a4ed-bdaf688b1057.
ABOUT CROWN CASTLE
Crown Castle owns, operates and leases more than 40,000 cell towers and approximately 90,000 route miles of fiber supporting small cells and fiber solutions across every major U.S. market. This nationwide portfolio of communications infrastructure connects cities and communities to essential data, technology and wireless service – bringing information, ideas and innovations to the people and businesses that need them. For more information on Crown Castle, please visit www.crowncastle.com.
CAUTIONARY LANGUAGE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This press release contains forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements that are not historical facts are hereby identified as forward-looking statements. In addition, words such as "estimate," "anticipate," "project," "plan," "intend," "believe," "expect," "likely," "predicted," "positioned," "continue," "target," "seek," "focus" and any variations of these words and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Examples of forward-looking statements include (1) statements and expectations regarding the process and outcomes of Company's Fiber Review Committee, including that it will help enhance and unlock shareholder value, (2) statements and expectations regarding the process and outcomes of CEO Search Committee, including that it will conduct the search to identify Crown Castle's next CEO, (3) that the actions set forth in this press release best position the Company for long term success, including our Board's regular evaluation of all paths to enhance shareholder value, (4) that the Company will benefit from the experience and insights of the newly appointed directors, (5) that the Company will identify the best path forward to capitalize on significant opportunities for growth in our industry. Such forward-looking statements should, therefore, be considered in light of various risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including prevailing market conditions, risk factors described in "Item 1A. Risk Factors" of the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022 ("2022 Form 10-K") and other factors. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those expected.
Our filings with the SEC are available through the SEC website at www.sec.gov or through our investor relations website at investor.crowncastle.com. We use our investor relations website to disclose information about us that may be deemed to be material. We encourage investors, the media and others interested in us to visit our investor relations website from time to time to review up-to-date information or to sign up for e-mail alerts to be notified when new or updated information is posted on the site.
Important Stockholder Information
The Company intends to file a proxy statement and a WHITE proxy card with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") in connection with its solicitation of proxies for its 2024 Annual Meeting. THE COMPANY'S STOCKHOLDERS ARE STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO READ THE DEFINITIVE PROXY STATEMENT, THE ACCOMPANYING WHITE PROXY CARD, AND ANY AMENDMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTS TO THESE DOCUMENTS WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE AS THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION. Stockholders may obtain the proxy statement, any amendments or supplements to the proxy statement, and other documents as and when filed by the Company with the SEC without charge from the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.
Participant Information
For participant information, see the Company's Schedule 14A filed with the SEC on February 14, 2024 and available here.
CONTACTS:
Dan Schlanger, CFO
Kris Hinson, VP & Treasurer
Crown Castle Inc.
713-570-3050
MEDIA:
Andy Brimmer / Adam Pollack
Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher
212-355-4449
