Thread ---talk about a waste of money if they stay with TDMA
:
AT&T Wireless Raises $10.62 Bln in Biggest U.S. IPO (Update1)
By Per Jebsen
New York, April 26 (Bloomberg) -- AT&T Corp.'s wireless unit
raised $10.62 billion in the biggest U.S. initial public offering
as investors bet the third-largest wireless network is poised to
benefit from surging cell phone use.
The New York-based company sold 360 million ``tracking''
shares at $29.50 each, the midpoint of the expected range of $26
to $32 set by Goldman, Sachs & Co., Merrill Lynch & Co., and
Salomon Smith Barney Inc. The underwriters earned $318 million
based on a 3 percent fee.
The sale of the 16-percent stake gave the company, ATT
Wireless Group, a market value of $68.15 billion. Completing the
sale as the shares of competitors such as Nextel Communications
Inc. sagged underscored demand for a business whose earnings
doubled to $430 million in the first quarter.
``This is a company that will be here in five or 10 years
unlike the vast majority of Internet IPOs,'' said David Menlow,
president of IPOfinancial.com. ``AT&T has national and
international recognition.''
The sale of tracking shares, which convey an economic but not
ownership interest in the unit, surpassed United Parcel Service
Inc.'s U.S.-record $5.5 billion IPO last year.
Size
AT&T's wireless unit is the third-largest wireless network in
the United States based on its 12.2 million subscribers. The unit
includes AT&T's voice and data wireless business, interests in
international wireless companies, and its wireless operations that
provide local phone services.
Use of wireless communications is expanding rapidly. The
number of wireless phone users grew by 16.8 million last year, the
biggest single-year gain, to reach almost one-third of all
Americans. There were 86.1 million customers subscribing to
wireless services last year, a 24 percent increase from 1998,
according to the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association.
Wireless phone companies are expanding the capabilities of
wireless devices to include Internet access and other data
services to capitalize on rapid growth. Consumers used their
wireless devices an average of 180 minutes a month last year,
compared with 130 minutes in 1998, the group said. |
