<Any more MMDS plays out there? WIRL? ATEL? You're the expert, so I'm leaning on you for some Monday morning swashbuckling...>
washingtonpost.com
MCI WorldCom to Buy CAI Wireless
Monday, April 19, 1999; 10:17 a.m. EDT
ALBANY, N.Y. -- MCI Worldcom (WCOM), the nation's No. 2 provider of long-distance calling service, is buying CAI Wireless Systems (CWSS) for about $414 million.
MCI WorldCom has been the only major telephone company without a stake in the lucrative and rapidly growing market for wireless communication.
In the tentative agreement announced late Friday, MCI agreed to pay $24 per share in cash for more than 17.24 million CAI shares.
CAI Wireless has been seeking a partner since its emerged from bankruptcy protection in October 1998.
CAI stock value surged 59 percent to $20 per share earlier this month with reports that MCI Worldcom and Sprint were interested in acquiring it. MCI Worldcom acquired the debt of CAI and several other struggling wireless companies at the end of March. At that time, CAI's stock was valued at $6 per share.
When the agreement was announced Friday, MCI WorldCom had also contracted to buy more than half of CAI's common stock.
CAI operates six analog-based wireless subscription video systems in New York City, Rochester and Albany, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Norfolk/Virginia Beach, Va.
CAI also owns wireless channel rights in Long Island, Buffalo and Syracuse, Providence, R.I., Hartford, Conn., Boston, Baltimore, Md., and Pittsburgh. In addition, CAI owns 94 percent of CS Wireless Systems Inc., a wireless operator based in Plano, Texas. |
