Murphy Tower Service, LLC acquires South Dakota-based East River Tower

August 12, 2021

Murphy Tower Service, a leading provider of wireless and wireline infrastructure services based in Carlisle, Iowa, acquired East River Tower of Gary, South Dakota.

Murphy Tower Service, a leading provider of wireless and wireline infrastructure services based in Carlisle, Iowa, acquired East River Tower of Gary, South Dakota. Acquiring East River Tower will allow the company to broaden its service region into the Dakotas and western Nebraska regions. Murphy Tower has additional locations in Cedar Rapids (IA); Omaha (NE); the Twin Cities (MN); and Springfield (MO). Des Moines-based BCC Advisers provided investment banking services to Murphy Tower.

“We’re very excited for the East River team to join us. They bring a wide range of experience in wireless construction services and have developed a reputation for quality and safety in a geographic market in which we were actively looking to grow.”

— Pat Murphy, Murphy Tower CEO

“We were not planning to sell, but after getting to know the Murphy team and seeing the opportunities they could bring to our employees and overall organization, this was an easy and natural decision for our ownership group,” said East River Tower owner Joe Pejsa. The East River Tower team will join Murphy Tower Service, assuming the Murphy Tower name effective immediately. 

Murphy Tower’s core services include new cellular tower construction and maintenance, small cell installation and maintenance, in-building Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS), broadband and fiber installation, horizontal directional drilling and commercial electric. The tower service company, now with over 160 employees, was founded in 2004 by siblings Pat Murphy, Clyde Murphy and Lin (Murphy) Sheehey.

Murphy Tower is interested in pursuing additional strategic acquisitions, particularly in the tower construction and engineering sectors.

Murphy Tower Service is a leading provider of wireless and wireline construction and maintenance services in the Midwest. As a voting member of NATE (National Association of Tower Erectors) and an annual participant of the key trade organization’s NATE STAR (Safety, Training, Accountability and Reliability) initiative since 2011, it values safety above all else, maintaining a zero-falls accident record. Murphy Tower’s certified climbers and other skilled employees provide quality service to all the major cellular communication carriers, government entities and broadcast companies in Iowa and surrounding states.