AT&T Wireless sets mid-February deadline for bids

[ComicalMoodyDan]

AT&T Wireless sets mid-February deadline for bids
Tuesday January 27, 7:16 pm ET


PHILADELPHIA, Jan 27 (Reuters) - AT&T Wireless Services Inc. on Tuesday set a mid-February deadline for suitors to submit final offers, dragging out the speculation over the fate of the No. 3 U.S. wireless company for another three weeks.
AT&T Wireless (NYSE:AWE - News), which has a market capitalization of about $30.36 billion, said it expects firm proposals to be submitted by Feb. 13. It agreed not to forge any contract or agreement for a deal before then, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (News - Websites) filing.

The date for final offers may change, the filing said. It was not disclosed whether AT&T Wireless would impose an earlier deadline for preliminary offers so it could whittle the list of bidders before reviewing final proposals.

Carriers ranging from Cingular Wireless, the No. 2 U.S. wireless company, to Japan's NTT Docomo Inc. (Tokyo:9437.T - News), which already owns 16 percent of AT&T Wireless, have expressed interest in submitting takeover offers, sources familiar with the situation have said.

Last week, Redmond, Washington-based AT&T Wireless said it hired Merrill Lynch & Co. to help it weigh its options.

Earlier on Tuesday, NTT Docomo, which has two seats on AT&T Wireless' board, agreed to waive its right to be consulted on any merger talks with other carriers. NTT Docomo maintained its right to submit a bid of its own, but it said it has not yet decided if it would participate in the auction.

Shares of AT&T Wireless have surged 40 percent this year on takeover speculation. The stock hit a 52-week high of $11.24 earlier in the day before closing at $11.17, up 24 cents, or 2.2 percent, on the New York Stock Exchange (News - Websites) .

Other suitors include Vodafone Group Plc (London:VOD.L - News; NYSE:VOD - News), Deutsche Telekom AG (XETRA[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]TEGn.DE - News) and Nextel Communications Inc. (NasdaqNM:NXTL - News), sources have said.

AT&T Wireless sets mid-February deadline for bids

[ILUVSOCAL]

Well, we should know soon who AT&T Wireless will go to, I'm hoping and leaning towards Cingular, but I guess time will tell. I notice Vodafone is one bidder, what would happen to their Verizon interestes if they got AT&T? I take it they would have to sell off their interest in Verizon, or would they?

[Fire14]

This article states Vidaphone already told Verizon they were going to bid on AT&T.
&lt;SPAN&gt;&lt;FONT face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2&gt;&lt;B&gt;<a href="http://www.mcb3.com/click.asp?x=10cbd.2982.1580924" name=att_wireless_sparks_urge&gt;AT&T Wireless sparks an urge to merge</A> &lt;/B&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;

[NYCDru]

Originally posted by: ILUVSOCAL
Well, we should know soon who AT&T Wireless will go to, I'm hoping and leaning towards Cingular, but I guess time will tell. I notice Vodafone is one bidder, what would happen to their Verizon interestes if they got AT&T? I take it they would have to sell off their interest in Verizon, or would they?

Yes they would probably have to sell there Verizon wireless shares or at least some of them. It would be intresting to see how that would work out.

[GoodmanR]

Originally posted by: NYCDru

Yes they would probably have to sell there Verizon wireless shares or at least some of them. It would be intresting to see how that would work out.

They will have to see all of there VZW shares, probably worth around $20 billion. Not really a sale though, Verzion basically gets to buy them back at a price set by a third party.

[NYCDru]

Originally posted by: GoodmanR

They will have to see all of there VZW shares, probably worth around $20 billion. Not really a sale though, Verzion basically gets to buy them back at a price set by a third party.

True...mind you short term $20B will be a strain for VZN but longterm VZW will be a cash cow for them.

[bobolito]

Vodafone would have to receive from Verizon $20B in one year beginning this June. This will disconnect them for good. If Verizon fails to do that, Vodafone cannot have AT&T.

[GoodmanR]

Actually, I believe that if VZ does not buy the share from vodafone, vodafone can look elsewhere to sell them. VZ will raise the capital to do it, there are rumors that they will sell their directory service...