NEW YORK-The $41.6 billion bid by Deutsche Telekom AG for VoiceStream Wireless Corp. was the largest merger announced last quarter and the second-largest during the first nine months of this year, Mergerstat L.P., Los Angeles, reported.
The semiconductor sector, with mergers totaling $49.5 billion, led the pack last quarter as measured by deals for which dollar value was disclosed. Paging and cellular services carriers placed second, with $49.2 billion worth of transactions whose dollar amount was made public.
Overall, Mergerstat said transactions involving American companies totaled $406 billion, up from $258 billion posted during the second quarter. However, the 2,246 transactions comprised the lowest aggregate number since the first quarter of 1999.
Some 147 deals in telecommunications services and related equipment sectors were announced, the highest number for an individual quarter so far this year.
Of the 61 deals in all sectors that topped the $1 billion mark, seven involved telecommunications companies. VoiceStream’s $4.625 billion bid for Powertel Inc. was the second-largest telecommunications-related merger announced during the third quarter.
With eight purchases each under their belts last quarter, AT&T Corp. and Cisco Systems tied for third place among those companies that were the most active acquirers.
A total of 18 wireless carrier merger and acquisition deals were announced last quarter, of which 11 disclosed an estimated price tag. While the giant deals grabbed much of the attention and accounted for a large proportion of the dollar volume made public, a number of smaller wireless services provider transactions took place and are worth noting.
Shared Technologies Cellular Inc. agreed to sell its cellular service business to SATX Inc. for $80.32 million. EZConnect agreed to purchase Encore Wireless Inc. for $6.8 million. Saratoga International Holdings Corp. announced plans to acquire Access World Wireless Services Inc., a provider of international cellular phone service, for $1.4 million.
Third-quarter wireless carrier deals for which a dollar value was not disclosed include: the Talk Visual Corp. acquisition of Pure Paging Inc.; the Teletouch Communications Inc. purchase of the Arkansas paging operations of Verizon Communications Inc.; the ClearWorks.net Inc. agreement to buy Link2Communications Inc., a two-way wireless communications services provider; the announced acquisition of Aurora Wireless Inc. by CLIX Group Inc.
In addition to the 30 mergers and acquisitions announced last quarter by wireline Internet service providers, at least two transactions were posted involving wireless companies focused on this area of communications. Intellicall Inc. reached agreement to to purchase Wireless WebConnect! Inc. for $13.35 million and AmeriNet Group.com Inc. announced a deal to buy WeCU.com Ltd. for an undisclosed sum.
