Add to del.icio.us     Digg this

Nov. 3, 2008

Late Friday, the U.S. Justice Department has approved Verizon Wireless' merger with Alltel.

The Department also added that the merger is conditional on Verizon divesting some assets in twenty-two states.

However, the merger still requires approval from the FCC, which is expected to ok the combination at a meeting scheduled for tomorrow, Election Day...

Under the proposed deal, Verizon Wireless would acquire the equity of Alltel for $5.9 billion and take on an estimated $22.2 billion in debt, mostly incurred when Alltel was taken private last year in a leveraged buyout by TPG Capital and Goldman Sachs Group.

The divestitures by Verizon that are required by the Justice Department cover all of North Dakota and South Dakota, large portions of Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, Montana, South Carolina, Utah and Wyoming.

It also includes parts of Alabama, Arizona, California, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia.

Add to del.icio.us     Digg this

    This article was featured on Business 5.0 and on Tech Blog.

Source: Verizon Wireless.