After months of rumors, Crown Castle has now finally divested its fiber and small cell assets, allowing it to become a pure-play towerco, focused on the US. There is some overlap in the two transactions. Firstly, Zayo is acquiring the fiber portfolio, for $4.25 billion. Zayo is backed by EQT and Digital Bridge. Secondly, EQT is acquiring Crown Castle’s small cells business, also for $4.25 billion. This deal gets Crown Castle out from under two challenging businesses, which had difficult growth trajectories, as well as quieting activist investment firm Elliott Investment Management – a dispute that we covered in December 2023, when Crown Castle launched a strategic review of its fiber business, due to that Elliott pressure. Crown Castle said…