Ontario Teachers' Partners With Diamond Communications To Grow Digital Communications Infrastructure; Manulife Investment Management Provides Follow-On Equity For Growth

DELRAY BEACH, Fla., May 4, 2023 /CNW/ - Diamond Communications, a leading wireless infrastructure provider supporting high-quality communications and connectivity, is pleased to announce that it has entered into a strategic partnership with Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board ("Ontario Teachers'"), one of the world's largest pension plans with C$247 billion in net assets.

Ontario Teachers' has acquired a significant equity ownership position in Diamond Communications ("Diamond"), joining its existing institutional investors, including Sculptor Real Estate and Manulife Investment Management ("Manulife IM"). In addition to the Ontario Teachers' equity investment, existing investors led by Manulife IM have provided additional equity capital to support Diamond to continue its strong growth trajectory.

Diamond is one of the largest privately held U.S. wireless communications infrastructure platforms with over 4,000 owned and managed tenanted sites and over 300,000 managed properties across the country.

"Diamond's diverse, high-quality portfolio of wireless sites is helping to connect people, companies and communities," said Kevin Kerr, Senior Managing Director and Head of Americas, Infrastructure & Natural Resources (INR) at Ontario Teachers'. "Diamond's management team offers great vision and experience, and we look forward to supporting the company's continued growth as it continues to deliver a high standard of connectivity across the U.S."

Ontario Teachers' brings significant experience in investing in digital infrastructure worldwide, including a recent investment in New Zealand mobile towers and infrastructure business Connexa and an agreement to acquire new and existing cell phone towers from telecommunications provider 2Degrees Mobile in December of last year.

"We are delighted to welcome Ontario Teachers' as a strategic partner. In addition, we appreciate the continued support of our existing shareholders, including Manulife Investment Management and Sculptor Real Estate," said Ed Farscht, CEO of Diamond. "They bring a wealth of global infrastructure experience and Diamond values their long-term perspective on our business, which is consistent with Diamond's strategic approach to long-term value creation.  We look forward to partnering with Ontario Teachers' and our existing investors as Diamond furthers our mission to expand high quality, reliable wireless communications infrastructure."

About Diamond
Diamond was founded in 2006 and owns/manages over 4,000 tenanted wireless communication sites in the United States as well as other communications infrastructure, including fiber and distributed antenna properties. Over the last several years, Diamond and its shareholders have invested approximately $2 billion of capital into various assets. Diamond has offices throughout the United States and also manages over 300,000 third-party properties and structures in all fifty states. Diamond has longstanding relationships with the wireless carriers, first responders, and other wireless and fiber users. Please visit our website at www.diamondcomm.com.

About Ontario Teachers' 
Ontario Teachers' is a global investor with net assets of C$247.2 billion as at December 31, 2022. We invest in more than 50 countries in a broad array of assets including public and private equities, fixed income, credit, commodities, natural resources, infrastructure, real estate and venture growth to deliver retirement income for 336,000 working members and pensioners.

With offices in Hong Kong, London, Mumbai, San Francisco, Singapore and Toronto, our more than 400 investment professionals bring deep expertise in a broad range of sectors and industries. We are a fully funded defined benefit pension plan and have earned an annual total-fund net return of 9.5% since the plan's founding in 1990. At Ontario Teachers', we don't just invest to make a return, we invest to shape a better future for the teachers we serve, the businesses we back, and the world we live in. For more information, visit otpp.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

About Manulife Investment Management

Manulife Investment Management is the global brand for the global wealth and asset management segment of Manulife Financial Corporation. We draw on more than a century of financial stewardship and the full resources of our parent company to serve individuals, institutions, and retirement plan members worldwide. Headquartered in Toronto, our leading capabilities in public and private markets are strengthened by an investment footprint that spans 19 geographies. We complement these capabilities by providing access to a network of unaffiliated asset managers from around the world. We're committed to investing responsibly across our businesses. We develop innovative global frameworks for sustainable investing, collaboratively engage with companies in our securities portfolios, and maintain a high standard of stewardship where we own and operate assets, and we believe in supporting financial well-being through our workplace retirement plans. Today, plan sponsors around the world rely on our retirement plan administration and investment expertise to help their employees plan for, save for, and live a better retirement. Not all offerings are available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit manulifeim.com.

About Sculptor Real Estate

Sculptor Real Estate was founded in 2003 to make investments in real estate and real estate related assets across North America and Europe. Sculptor Real Estate has invested in over $20.0 billion of real estate assets across 28 different real estate related asset classes including direct equity investments, preferred equity structures, ground leases, senior loans, mezzanine loans, among other real estate investments. For more information, visit www.sculptor.com.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Diamond Communications: Peter Woodbury
[phone]
[email protected]

Ontario Teachers': Hugh Christopher (Senior Manager, External Communications)
[phone]
[email protected]

Manulife Investment Management: Elizabeth Bartlett
[phone]
[email protected]

Sculptor Real Estate: Jonathan Gasthalter
[phone]
[email protected]

SOURCE Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan