Strittmatter Elected to Crown Castle Board
"We are pleased that Bill has joined the Crown Castle Board as the designated representative of GE Capital," stated Ted B. Miller Jr., Crown Castle Chairman and CEO. "His global leadership responsibility for SFG's Telecommunications financing group, and his extensive financial experience are invaluable as Crown Castle continues the expansion of our domestic and international communications infrastructure platforms."
In November 1999, GE Capital Structured Finance Group made a $200 million strategic equity investment in Crown Castle. Such investment is anticipated to be the initial step in the development of additional opportunities for Crown Castle and companies within the GE family of businesses such as NBC and satellite communications company, GE Americom.
Prior to his appointment as Managing Director - Telecommunications for SFG, Mr. Strittmatter was Managing Director and head of SFG's Commercial and Industrial financing business. Before that position, he was SFG's Chief Credit Officer. In that capacity, he was responsible for the worldwide credit and risk management functions of SFG's project and structured financing activities in the energy, infrastructure and industrial sectors. In addition, Mr. Strittmatter was responsible for managing SFG's investment portfolio of approximately $11 billion.
Mr. Strittmatter joined GE Capital in 1982 holding various positions in finance, operations and marketing. From 1978 to 1980, Mr. Strittmatter was a CPA with the Rochester, N.Y., office of the accounting firm Main Hurdman. He received a BS degree in business from the Rochester Institute of Technology in 1978 and an MBA from the Harvard Business School in 1982.
Crown Castle is a leading provider of communication sites and wireless network services and provides an array of related infrastructure and network support services to the wireless communications and radio and television broadcasting industries in the United States and United Kingdom. Pro forma for all closed and previously announced transactions, Crown Castle owns, operates and manages approximately 10,000 wireless communication towers internationally. For more information on Crown Castle, visit: http://www.crowncastle.com.
GE Capital Structured Finance Group (SFG) is one of the world's leading equity investors and financiers, providing innovative financial solutions in partnership with clients in the global telecommunications, commercial and industrial, energy and transportation sectors. In telecommunications, SFG provides private equity and innovative financing for broadband access and transport, mobile communications and value-added service providers. Visit SFG at: http://www.sfg.ge.com. GE Capital, with assets of over US$300 billion, is a global, diversified financial services company with 28 specialized businesses. A wholly-owned subsidiary of General Electric Company, GE Capital, based in Stamford, Conn., provides a variety of financial and consumer services to businesses and individuals around the world. GE is a diversified manufacturing, technology and services company with operations worldwide.
CONTACT: For Crown Castle International:
LJF Associates Inc., Houston
Linda J. Freede, 281/367-3922
lfreede@ljfassoc.com
or
Easterly Investor Relations, Houston
Ken Dennard, 713/529-6600
kdennard@easterly.com