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COPYRIGHT 2001 Crain Communications, Inc.
Being in the middle is apparently not the most comfortable place for a wireless carrier. Not big enough to compete with the large, nationwide operators, but too big to have the charm of a mom-and-pop operation. For Alltel Corp., after leaving behind the small-carrier stigma long ago, the only place to go is up.
After being rejected twice (most recently earlier this month) Alltel last week made public a merger proposal to CenturyTel Inc. valued at more than $9 billion. The proposal, totaling $6 billion in equity and $3 billion in assumed debt, would give CenturyTel shareholders either $43 per share in cash or 0.69 Alltel shares for every CenturyTel share owned. The offer represents a 40-percent premium from CenturyTel's stock price before the proposal was announced.
If approved by CenturyTel, whose board of directors has already nixed two similar deals, the new company would serve more than 7 million wireless subscribers and cover 58 million potential customers. Alltel's wireless footprint includes licenses along the East Coast, Southwest and Midwest, well as roaming agreements with Verizon Wireless, allowing it to offer nationwide calling plans. CenturyTel's wireless holdings are mostly focused in the Southeast and upper Midwest.
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