RESTON, Va.-Sprint Nextel Corp. wrapped up the acquisition of its largest CDMA affiliate, Alamosa Holdings Inc. The closing of the $4.3 billion Alamosa transaction gives Sprint Nextel another 1.5 million direct customers in 19 states. It also ends a pending lawsuit from Alamosa subsidiary AirGate PCS Inc. involving violations of exclusivity agreements.
Sprint Nextel has already settled several lawsuits from Alamosa shareholders that accused Alamosa company officials of trading insider information on the company to Sprint Nextel in exchange for stock options that vested immediately upon the sale of Lubbock, Texas-based Alamosa. Alamosa’s shareholders agreed to sell for $18.75 per share in mid-January.
The Alamosa announcement was Sprint Nextel’s second closing on a CDMA affiliate acquisition in a week. Sprint Nextel also closed this week on its $98 million purchase of affiliate Enterprise Communication Partnership, which had about 52,000 customers in Georgia and Alabama.
