Boots is Committed to Working Collaboratively with Board and New CEO
Crown Castle Board Has Presided Over the Misallocation of $22 Billion of Shareholder Capital; Total Shareholder Return Has Suffered Because of Poor Decisions and Poor Leadership
Leading Independent Proxy Advisor Glass Lewis Agrees Crown Castle is a "Chronic Underperformer" and Recommends Shareholders Replace Long-Tenured Incumbent Directors Cindy Christy and Ari Fitzgerald "who [Glass Lewis] believe[s] bear the responsibility for overseeing the Company's extended period of underperformance and concerning governance missteps"
Boots Urges Shareholders to Vote the GOLD Proxy Card "FOR" Boots Capital's Four Highly Qualified Director Nominees – Ted Miller, Charles Green, David Wheeler, and Tripp Rice – and "WITHHOLD" on ALL Crown Castle Nominees
HOUSTON, May 16, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Boots Capital Management, LLC ("Boots Capital"), an investment vehicle led by Ted B. Miller, co-founder and former Chief Executive Officer of Crown Castle Inc., (NYSE:CCI) ("Crown Castle" or the "Company"), today issued the following statement:
Your Vote Matters No Matter How Many Shares You Own. Crown Castle's Annual Meeting is taking place next Wednesday, May 22. Time is running out to vote "FOR" Boots Capital's four director nominees on the GOLD proxy card to support change at Crown Castle.
The following facts are indisputable:
- For over a decade, Crown Castle's Board of Directors (the "Board") has consistently made poor, value-destructive decisions that have caused Crown Castle's total shareholder Return (TSR) to substantially lag behind its primary tower-company competitors, the benchmark REIT Index, and the S&P 500 Index.
- The Board has spent more than $22 billion on fiber assets currently worth approximately $12.5 billion1 that have never earned back their cost of capital. Worse, the Board plans to spend another $1.4 billion on fiber in 2024.
- Despite two attempts over four years to refresh the Board, Crown Castle -- a tower company -- does not have a single independent director with tower-company operating experience. Since the first attempted refresh, CCI's TSR performance relative to its direct peers, American Tower (AMT) and SBA Communications (SBAC), is -542% and -153%, respectively.
- In an effort to engage constructively, Boots Capital has twice attempted to settle with the Company and has been dismissed out of hand.
LEADING INDEPENDENT PROXY ADVISORY FIRM, GLASS LEWIS, SAID IT BEST* WHEN IT RECOMMENDED FOR BOOTS NOMINEES TED MILLER AND CHUCK GREEN
Re: Tower Industry Expertise That Gets Results:
- "In their place, we believe shareholders should support the election of Dissident Nominees Miller and Green, both of whom are former executives of the Company and appear to us to have extensive operational and execution experience in the tower industry."
- "In our view, Messrs. Miller and Green have been deeply enmeshed in the tower industry throughout their careers, and we ...