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To: Ellen who wrote (979)	5/7/2000 11:32:00 PM
From: MangoBoy	Respond to of 1983

[WSJ: NTT Sets Deal to Acquire Rest of Verio for $5 Billion] Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp., the Japanese phone giant, has agreed to acquire the 90% in Verio Inc. that it doesn't already own for $60 a share, or more than $5 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. The transaction would represent one of the largest cash purchases of an Internet-services company -- a sector where most deals are stock-swap transactions. It would also signify how large global companies are eager to team up with fast-growing technology companies and tap into their expertise on the Web. Verio, based in Englewood, Colo., bills itself as the largest operator of Web sites for businesses and a leading provider of comprehensive Internet services. At the end of the first quarter, Verio said it hosted 395,000 Web sites and 14,000 e-commerce sites. Satoshi Fujita, senior vice president at the acquiring unit, NTT Communications Corp., confirmed the deal. A spokesman for Verio said there had been a "lot of rumors" but declined to comment further. Verio is said to have attracted interest from other telecommunications companies, and it isn't clear if a rival bidder will try to trump the Japanese telecommunications behemoth. NTT's offer represents a whopping 67% premium over Verio's 4 p.m. Friday price of $35.9375, up 93.75 cents, on the Nasdaq Stock Market. At 4 p.m. Friday on the New York Stock Exchange, NTT's American depositary shares closed at $66.25, up $2.0625. One reason NTT is likely to have been able to pay more than other bidders is that it already owns about 10% of Verio. It acquired that stake for about $11 a share, making its cost for owning all of Verio closer to $55 a share, according to a person familiar with the matter. Besides, Verio's stock was trading as high as $84 a share a little over two months ago -- before technology stocks took a beating. At the end of the first quarter, Verio reported a net loss of $73 million, or 93 cents a share, on revenue of $81.1 million. Verio raised $126.5 million when it went public in May 1998 at $23 a share. The company has purchased numerous Internet companies but has long been considered a takeover target. In part, that is because Verio's chief executive, Justin L. Jaschke, has experience in building and selling a company. He served as president of OneComm Corp. where he helped build a 23-state digital mobile-communications network, which was sold to Nextel Communications Inc. in 1995 for $650 million in stock. For NTT, an acquisition of Verio would jump-start the Japanese company's Internet-services business and help make it a global player. The company is making a major push in this area, recently predicting that Internet-related businesses and mobile communications will account for 70% of revenue by March 2003, up from 50% currently. NTT is already becoming well known in many overseas markets because of the rapid growth of NTT DoCoMo Inc., the mobile-phone subsidiary that is publicly traded. The deal also shows how corporate Japan, after a hiatus, is starting to invest aggressively in different parts of the world, driven in part by increased globalization and the need to compete effectively in telecommunications and other high-growth industries. Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown and Merrill Lynch served as financial advisers to NTT, while Citigroup Inc.'s Salomon Smith Barney served as Verio's investment banker.