Alamosa makes merger bid for fellow Sprint PCS affiliate

[danny boi]

http://rcrnews.com/news.cms?newsId=20526

Alamosa makes merger bid for fellow Sprint PCS affiliate

By Mike Dano
Nov 22, 2004

Fed up with what it said were sluggish negotiations, Sprint network affiliate Alamosa Holdings Inc. took its bid to merge with fellow affiliate AirGate PCS Inc. public to score the approval of AirGate's investors. Wall Street appeared to cheer the move, sending Alamosa's stock up around 8 percent to $11.65 per share and AirGate's stock up almost 23 percent to $33.90 per share.
Alamosa said it has been pursuing a merger with AirGate since the middle of this year. Under the stock-for-stock deal, AirGate investors would receive 2.8 Alamosa shares in exchange for their AirGate shares. The deal would be worth around $350 million.

Following its announcement, Alamosa held a conference call for investors to explain the benefits of the combination. The carrier even released a copy of the letter it said it sent AirGate detailing the merger.

"When we sent this letter to AirGate four weeks ago, we considered releasing it publicly so that AirGate shareholders would have this important information about their company," said David Sharbutt, Alamosa's chairman and chief executive officer. "However, AirGate requested that we first give them an opportunity to consider and respond to our proposal. We decided to release the details of our proposal now because we believe that AirGate is not giving serious consideration to our offer."

In a statement released shortly after Alamosa's announcement, AirGate chief Thomas Dougherty said the carrier was still considering the proposal.

"We are hereby advising shareholders that in our continuing effort to maximize shareholder value, our board of directors is giving this proposal serious consideration, as we do with any matter of this nature," said Dougherty, the carrier's president and CEO. "The company has retained a financial advisor, and we are carefully reviewing our strategic alternatives, including continued execution of our recently developed long-term strategic plan, as well as consideration of business combinations such as the proposed combination, to determine what course of action is in the best interest of AirGate and our shareholders in building shareholder value."

A combined Alamosa and AirGate would create a Sprint PCS affiliate with more than 23 million total pops, more than 18 million covered pops and more than 1.25 million subscribers. Alamosa said its proposal is set to expire Dec. 6.<p

[WirelessBeachBum]

Sprint needs to buy them all out.....

[larry]

I think a merger of Alamosa and Airgate would be a great start. It would put together two of Sprint's larger affiliates and help both of them out. Then we can hope for Horizon to join them.

[WirelessBeachBum]

I guess I understand Airgates issues, they attempted a merger with ipcs a few years ago, and didn't do their home work and lost allot of value (not to mention many of their employees and retail stores.)

The management at airgate is a bit ****y as well, they will have issues giving up control to Alamosa. The year they had so many problems with ipcs, and had to lay off hundreds of employees, the CEO still got a million dollar bonus...that's just not responsible, you don't reward people for making their financial goals by cutting staff....poor management.

[agentHibby]

Anybody know what is going on with iPCS?? no website Airgate says nothing about them nor are they with them.
Be nice if AT&T could get a spot and build a network. But I don't think it will happen anytime soon.

[danny boi]

Originally Posted by WirelessBeachBum

Sprint needs to buy them all out.....

Imagine......... There would be three mega big cell phone companies here in the US. Pretty impressive.

[Matt]

It's official

Alamosa Holdings, Inc. to Combine With AirGate PCS, Inc. to Create The Premier Sprint PCS Affiliate

LUBBOCK, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 8, 2004--Alamosa Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:APCS - News):

* Combined Company With More Than 23 Million Total POPs; Over 18 Million Covered POPs and Over 1.25 Million Subscribers in 19 States;
* Conference Call planned for December 9, 2004 to Discuss Combination

[bobolito]

That's great! Finally! The first step towards eliminating affiliates. Now, Sprint just needs to save money to buy them all out after they all merge.

[agentHibby]

does this include IPCS network??
iPCS

[larry]

Originally Posted by Matt

It's official

Alamosa Holdings, Inc. to Combine With AirGate PCS, Inc. to Create The Premier Sprint PCS Affiliate

LUBBOCK, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 8, 2004--Alamosa Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:APCS - News):

* Combined Company With More Than 23 Million Total POPs; Over 18 Million Covered POPs and Over 1.25 Million Subscribers in 19 States;
* Conference Call planned for December 9, 2004 to Discuss Combination

Nice! Now hopefully affiliate Ubiquitel PCS will make the next step with some sort of consolidation. Not that they need to because they're in pretty decent shape. But I'd like to see some more consolidation.

[Chris L]

Originally Posted by WirelessBeachBum

Sprint needs to buy them all out.....

My recollection is that Sprint can't buy them out, under the terms of their contracts with Sprint, unless they go bankrupt.

[WirelessBeachBum]

Maybe Alamosa will buy out Sprint and Nextel?