It’s been more than a decade since Windstream spun off network assets into a real estate investment trust that came to be known as Uniti. And as of the recombination announced late Friday afternoon, the two companies have again become one, with a focus on Tier 2 and 3 markets.
The companies announced plans to recombine in May 2024 under the belief that the value of the recombined company would be greater than the total value of the two separate companies.
The new company will retain the Uniti name and the UNIT stock symbol. Windstream had been a privately held company since it emerged from bankruptcy several years ago.
Uniti stockholders received .6029 shares of stock in the new Uniti for each share of legacy Uniti stock. Those stockholders will hold about 62% of the common stock in the new company.
Windstream and the legacy Uniti operations will be subsidiaries of the new Uniti.
The new Uniti apparently will keep the Kinetic brand that Windstream uses for its fiber broadband service, as Friday’s announcement of the recombination references the Kinetic name. l
Windstream Uniti Recombination
After its spinoff from Windstream, Uniti (initially known as Communications Sales & Leasing) operated primarily as a wholesaler to other providers. Initially Uniti’s only customer was Windstream, but that changed over the years as Uniti built fiber transport networks and acquired several other companies.
A key goal of the recombination is to expand the availability of fiber broadband within Windstream’s local service footprint. The focus will be on Tier 2 and 3 markets.
Uniti and Windstream executives have been touting a comparatively low average fiber deployment cost of $650 per passing. They attribute the low cost to Uniti’s backhaul network assets and to the fiber-to-the-neighborhood deployments that Windstream made to boost DSL speeds. The companies also have noted that recombining could make it easier for them to obtain favorable financing by using asset backed securitization (ABS).
