Broadwing sells broadband unit to Corvis!
biz.yahoo.com
NEW YORK -- Less than four years after it jumped into long distance and fiber optics with a $2.2 billion acquisition, telecommunications provider Broadwing Inc. (NYSE:BRW - News) is poised to unload the businesses for about $130 million, people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal.
Broadwing, which is the parent of local phone firm Cincinnati Bell, has agreed to sell the bulk of its broadband unit - formerly known as IXC Communications Inc. - to C III Communications, these people said. C III is a new joint venture between telecommunications-equipment provider Corvis Corp. (NasdaqSC:CORV - News) and Cequel III, a venture-capital firm backed by Jerry Kent, the founder of cable firm Charter Communications Inc., the people said.
An announcement is expected today. A Broadwing spokesman declined to comment.
For Broadwing, which bought IXC in 1999, the sale represents the final step in an embarrassing foray into a new business segment that was supposed to transform the staid phone concern. The IXC transaction even prompted the company, then known as Cincinnati Bell Inc., to change its name to Broadwing.
Like other deals that were created in the merger-crazed 1990s, the purchase of IXC didn't live up to expectations, namely because of the collapse in demand that accompanied the economic slowdown.
Now, Broadwing is working feverishly with lenders to restructure its bank debt, much of which comes due in the next year.
Broadwing shares rose four cents to $4.04 in New York Stock Exchange (News - Websites) composite trading.
Wall Street Journal Staff Reporters Robin Sidel and Dennis Berman contributed to this report. |
