NEW YORK (S&P Global Ratings) June 15, 2016--S&P Global Ratings said today that Windstream Holdings Inc.'s (B+/Stable) reduction of its 20% ownership stake in telecom REIT Communications Sales&Leasing (CS&L; B+/Stable) has no impact on the ratings for either company. Windstream plans to sell approximately 14.7 million shares in CS&L to a consortium of private equity investors that include Searchlight Capital Partners, which will own 10 million of the selling shares. Following the sale, Windstream would retain about a 10% stake in CS&L. We estimate net proceeds of roughly $309 million, which we expect will go toward debt repayment. Under our base case scenario, we have already factored Windstream's monetization of its ownership stake in CS&L into the rating,
