SpectraSite Holdings, the parent company of SpectraSite Communications, didn’t pay $10.8 million in interest due today on a series of 10 3/4 percent notes.
“After lengthy discussions with our financial advisor, Lazard Freres, we have determined that this restructuring initiative is the best option for the Company to ensure its long term financial health and success,” said Steve Clark, President and CEO of SpectraSite, one of the nation’s largest wireless tower operators, in a statement. “We can no longer support a level of debt that was incurred in an operating environment that was drastically different than today. Over the last year we have seen the collapse of the telecommunications industry, a significant tightening of the capital markets and an economic recession not experienced in over a decade. All of this has impacted spending by the wireless carriers.”
SpectraSite (Nasdaq: SITE) stock closed the day at 17 cents a share, a fraction lower than its opening price.
In a press release issued moments after the stock markets closed, SpectraSite said it “has begun discussions with holders of its publicly held senior notes concerning a balance sheet restructuring that is in the best interests of the Company and its stakeholders and that will restore the Company’s financial health.”
SpectraSite also insisted that the company will continue to operate as normal.
“The financial restructuring is not expected to adversely impact SpectraSite Communications, Inc., the operating company subsidiary that conducts the Company’s day-to-day operations,” the company said in a release. “The proposed restructuring would leave intact all current leases with customers and property owners. As a result, the Company anticipates that its employees, customers, suppliers or any other entity doing business with SpectraSite Communications will not be negatively impacted.”
