Global Signal Inc. said its board of directors has increased its cash dividend for the fourth quarter to 40 cents per share of common stock from 37 cents in the third quarter of 2004. The dividend is payable Jan. 20. The tower player owns or manages more than 3,800 towers and other sites. The company also secured another mortgage loan at 5 percent interest rate, paying $182 million in both loan and fund reserve account to acquire other wireless tower assets.
Canadian telecommunications provider Telus Corp. reported the closing of a secondary offering of 48.55 million common shares and 24.94 million non-voting shares that were controlled by a wholly owned subsidiary of Verizon Communications Inc. Telus noted that aggregate proceeds from the offering totaled $1.88 billion, which is believed to be the fourth-largest equity offering in Canadian history.
Cingular Wireless L.L.C. signed a definitive agreement to sell back its 32.9-percent interest in Indian cellular operator Idea Cellular for $200 million. Cingular acquired the asset when it purchased AT&T Wireless Services Inc. in late October for $41 billion. Idea Cellular, one of the largest Indian wireless carriers, is a joint venture between Singapore Technologies Telemedia and TM International in Malaysia. Cingular said it expects the sale to close during the first quarter of next year. AWS divested a number of its interests prior to its acquisition by Cingular.
Wireless broadband company Alvarion Ltd. announced it completed its $40 million acquisition of wireless base station company InterWAVE Communications International Ltd. The closing ends a somewhat tenuous relationship between the two companies. Alvarion announced its intent to acquire InterWAVE in July, but then tried to pull out of the deal in September. InterWAVE quickly followed with a lawsuit, and the two companies returned to the negotiation table. In October, the companies reached an agreement for a $40 million purchase price.
