Cingular poised to offer at least $31.9 billion for AT&T Wireless

<p>Cingular Wireless was poised late Friday to submit a new bid to buy AT&T Wireless for at least $31.9 billion, a source familiar with the situation said.</p><p>The bid was expected to be more than AT&T Wireless closing share price of $11.82 on the New York Stock Exchange, the source said on condition of anonymity. It was not clear how much more, and the source would not elaborate.</p><p>The board of Redmond, Wash.-based AT&T Wireless was expected to meet Saturday to discuss bids for the company, which had set a 5 p.m. Friday deadline for bids to be submitted. It is not clear what if any other companies also had planned to submit bids for the nations third-largest cell phone provider.</p><p>Sources have said that NTT DoCoMo of Japan, which already owns 16 percent of AT&T Wireless, Vodafone PLC of Britain and Nextel Communications of Reston, Va., have also been interested in buying AT&T Wireless. David Caouette, a spokesman for AT&T Wireless, said Friday when reached by cell phone in New Jersey that he could not make any comment.</p><p>Raising its stake in AT&T Wireless would be a costly move at a time when NTT DoCoMo is just starting to recover from huge losses it took on overseas investments, including its stake in AT&T Wireless. It is also unclear whether the telecom will sell its stake after AT&T Wireless is sold. A Vodafone deal would require the British cell phone giant to sell its 45 percent stake in Verizon Wireless, the biggest mobile phone company in the United States.</p><p>AT&T Wireless share price has risen steadily in recent weeks on news about the interest in the company from several suitors, leading to the potential of a higher offering price for the company once a deal is reached.</p><p>The boards of BellSouth Corp. and SBC Communications Inc., which jointly own Atlanta-based Cingular, previously authorized Cingular to resubmit its bid by Fridays deadline.</p><p>___</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>HASH(0x2866728)</p>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2004/2/176629