Nextel division files for $920M IPO
M. Sharon Baker Staff Writer
Craig McCaw is going public again, this time with the international division of Nextel
Communications Inc., in which McCaw has a controlling interest.
Nextel International Inc., formerly known as McCaw International, and based in Seattle up until a
year ago, filed to raise $920 million in an initial public offering.
The company, now based near parent Nextel in Reston, Va., primarily operates Nextel's digital
dispatch radio service in Brazil, Argentina and Mexico. It holds ownership stakes in companies that
operate in each of those countries.
Nextel International generated $110 million in sales for the first six months of this year. Last year
revenues were $104 million.
Like other McCaw entities that are financed with huge amounts of debt, Nextel International has a
hefty $2.3 billion in debt on its books. Some $623 million in debt was raised earlier this month.
The company has lost $1.1 billion since its inception in January 1995.
Keith Grinstein, a partner with Seattle-based Second Avenue Partners, is Nextel International's vice
chairman. Grinstein ran the company since its inception, serving as its chief executive officer up until
last year when the company moved to Virginia.
McCaw's bankers, Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, are co-leads on the
deal. The company filed a preliminary prospectus, which did not include the potential share price or
what percent the company would sell to the public. As with other McCaw ventures, there will be two
classes of stock, with Nextel Communications continuing to control the company after the offering.
Nextel International is McCaw's third creation to launch a public offering. His fourth is already in the
works and is rumored to be filing this fall: ICO-Teledesic Global Ltd., the satellite venture. |
