U.S. antitrust authorities approved Alamosa Holdings Inc.’s bid to acquire fellow Sprint Corp. wireless affiliate AirGate PCS Inc. A Federal Trade Commission notice said officials have dropped their investigation of the deal without taking action.
Alamosa said in December it would acquire AirGate for $392 million in stock, creating the largest Sprint affiliate.
In other news, Alamosa announced its dividend, record and ex-dividend dates for its 7.5-percent Series B convertible preferred stock.
The company has set a record date of Jan. 17 for the dividend payment, with the dividend payable Jan. 31 at an annual rate of 7.5 percent of the $250 per share liquidation preference, in respect to the period from Nov. 1, 2004, through Jan 31, 2005. The ex-dividend date will be Jan. 13.