USWest says closed Global Crossing tender offer

    NEW YORK, June 19 (Reuters) - U S West Inc. (NYSE:USW), the
local phone company weighing two takeover offers, said it
closed its previously planned tender offer to buy 9.5 percent
of the stock of one suitor Global Crossing Ltd (NASDAQ:GBLX).
    U S West's cash tender offer to buy Global Crossing's stock
at $62.75 a share was oversubscribed. About 240 million shares
were offered but U S West will only buy about 39 million shares
to gain its 9.5 percent Global Crossing stake. Global
Crossing's stock closed at $49.75 a share, up 94 cents, on
Friday.
    U S West said it would buy the stake in Global Crossing in
May, when the two companies announced their proposed $32.3
billion merger agreement.
    Qwest Communications International Inc. (NASDAQ:QWST) on Sunday
launched surprise takeover bids for U S West and local and long
distance phone company Frontier Corp. (NYSE:FRO), attempting to
woo them from their current merger agreements with Global
Crossing.
    Frontier on Thursday said it would take no action on
Qwest's $12.0 billion offer and reaffirmed its plan to be
acquired by Global Crossing for about $11.4 billion. Frontier
said it would continue to monitor the situation surrounding the
Qwest bid.
     U S West, however, is expected to take longer to evaluate
Qwest's $34.9  billion offer. U S West recently added Lehman
Brothers to its roster of advisors and it may take several more
days for the bankers to review Qwest's offer. U S West said it
would evaluate the Qwest offer in due course.
    Qwest and Global Crossing have said they have no plans to
alter the terms of their competing offers.
    Qwest, meanwhile, is seeking about $4 billion in loans to
help pay for the cash portion of its offer to buy Frontier, as
well as transaction fees and expenses, sources familiar with
the situation said. Qwest's bankers, Donaldson, Lufkin &
Jenrette and Bank of America Corp. are organizing the loan,
which would be spread over several lenders, sources said.
    Qwest has also met with several large shareholders over the
past week to calm their concerns over the proposed bids,
sources said. Qwest's stock fell about 25 percent after the
bids were announced. Qwest has also reached out to potential
new shareholders to help restore its stock price, sources said.

 Copyright 1999, Reuters News Service