February 2, 2021

PG&E Agrees to $973 Million Sale of Transmission Tower Wireless Licenses to SBA Communications

As part of its focus on financial health and customer affordability, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) announced on Feb. 2, 2021 that it entered into a definitive agreement with a wholly owned subsidiary of SBA Communications Corporation to sell its license agreements with wireless providers that attach their equipment to certain electric transmission towers and other utility structures.

Munger, Tolles & Olson acted as legal counsel to PG&E for this transaction.

The arrangement also allows the SBA subsidiary to continue to market and sublicense access to the towers and structures to additional wireless providers and PG&E will receive a portion of that future revenue. The sale of these licenses, which apply to over 700 towers, is expected to generate $973 million in initial proceeds, subject to customary closing adjustments. PG&E is not selling any transmission towers as part of this transaction.

As part of the transaction, PG&E is also entering into a strategic relationship with SBA, through SBA’s wholly owned subsidiary, to sublicense and market equipment at additional attachment locations on up to 28,000 transmission towers across PG&E’s extensive network. Through this arrangement, PG&E will receive a portion of future revenues from these sublicensed equipment attachment locations.

This transaction is expected to close in early 2021.

You can read more about this transaction and what it means for PG&E in their press release.

The Munger, Tolles & Olson team that counseled PG&E in this transaction was led by Judith Kitano and Henry Weissmann and included Kevin Allred, Jeff Heintz, David Goldman, Tyler Hilton, Zara Bari, and Natalie Karl.