Sprint Nextel to acquire Alamosa Holdings

Sprint Nextel to acquire Alamosa Holdings

Sprint Nextel Corporation has announced plans to acquire its largest Sprint-branded wireless affiliate Alamosa Holdings. The deal is expected to cost them around USD 3.4 Billion. As part of the deal, Alamosa shareholders will receive $18.75 per share. This price is around 15% premium over the share’s current market price. However, the deal also includes assumption of $900 million in debt.

Alamosa is based in Texas and they sell Sprint-branded services in 19 states and serve around 1.48 million subscribers. The deal would however require to be approved by Alamosa shareholders and regulatory officials. Sprint Nextel expects to end this deal by the first quarter of next year.

This latest deal means that the company has acquired four of their affiliates since the two companies merged to form Spring Nextel. The other three are U.S. Unwired Inc. for $1.3 billion; Baton Rouge, La.-based Gulf Coast Wireless for $287.5 million; and IWO Holdings Inc. of Albany, N.Y., for $427 million. Sprint Nextel is also said to be considering acquiring Nextel Partners Inc., its largest affiliate, next year.