Citigroup: American Tower Corp. May Win Auction For Verizon Cell Towers

American Tower Corp AMT may soon emerge as the winning bidder for a cell tower network getting sold off by Verizon Communications Inc. VZ, an analyst said Friday.

American's "strategic interest" in having Verizon as an anchor tenant suggests that it will offer more for the assets than likely competitors, according to Citigroup's Michael Rollins.

Other potential bidders include Crown Castle International Corp. and SBA Communications Corp.

Big telecoms are trying to scratch together as much cash as possible ahead of a major federal auction next month of radio spectrum.

Verizon reportedly hired an investment bank last month to help unload its network of cell phone towers in a deal that some said could be worth $6 billion.

But Rollins thinks that's too rich, and put the price at $4.5 billion.

Crown Castle International paid $4.85 billion in December to AT&T for 600 towers along with leasing rights to an additional 9,100 towers.

The AT&T deal may prove a faulty benchmark for Verizon, however, "given lower average tenancy than the AT&T tower portfolio," Rollins said.

American Tower traded recently up 1 percent at $95.72 per share; SBA was off 1 percent and Crown dropped 0.5 percent.