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Alltel dials up 360's number
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March 16, 1998: 4:14 p.m. ET
Buys Sprint spinoff for $6 billion, adding 2.6 million wireless customers
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Alltel Corp. on Monday announced it will buy 360 Communications Co. in a $6 billion stock and debt deal that creates one of the largest wireless carriers in the nation.
The Little Rock, Ark.-based Alltel provides wireless, long-distance and Internet services to 3 million customers, primarily in the Midwest and Southeast.
The deal will add Chicago-based 360's 2.6 million wireless customers to Alltel's base, along with 360's residential long-distance and paging services. (Click here to see Alltel's area of operations.)
Under terms of the agreement, each 360 share (XO) will be exchanged for 0.74 of an Alltel share (AT). The merged company will market all of its offerings under the Alltel brand.
Shares of Alltel were trading 1-7/16 lower at 44-3/8 Monday afternoon while 360 stock dove 4-3/8 to 31-1/4.
Alltel will also assume approximately $1.8 billion of 360's debt load.
The companies, which are awaiting shareholder and regulatory approval, expect the deal to be completed by mid-summer. Alltel expects no job cuts in the wake of the acquisition.
Independence short for 360
It was a short, sweet taste of corporate independence for 360 Communications. The company was created when Sprint Corp. (FON) spun off its cellular services division in 1996.
Since then, the company has been expanding to move from being a pure cellular company to a more broad-based communications firm. That strategy has also been embraced by Alltel.
"All competition is local," said Alltel Chairman Joe Ford, as he described the guiding principle of both companies at a New York press conference Monday.
Alltel and 360 have initiated a game plan of serving small and mid-sized cities and giving those customers more and more services.
"The winning companies in the communications marketplace will be those who can offer a broad array of converged communications products and services," said Ford.
-- by staff writer Randy Schultz
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