AT&T Wireless Services Inc. reported that it has reached an agreement with Rogers Communications Inc. to sell its 34-percent interest in Rogers Wireless Communications Inc. for $1.372 billion. The transaction will be made through AWS’ JVII general partnership and includes 27.6 million Class A multiple voting shares and 20.9 million Class B restricted voting shares at a sale price of approximately $27.97 per share.
The deal is expected to close by Oct. 13 with RCI entitled to accelerate the date upon written notice to JVII and will result in the termination of the 1999 shareholder agreement between RCI, Rogers Wireless and JVII. RCI said it plans to fund the purchase through a bridge financing facility of up to two years with a group of Canadian financial institutions.
AWS’ noted the deal continues its recent trend of monetizing “non-strategic assets” to fund growth in its core wireless business, including the sale of minority investments in Taiwan, Indonesia and the Czech Republic. AWS and Rogers added the deal will not affect current voice or data roaming agreements between the two carriers.
As part of the sale, JVII has also agreed that its consent is not required under the shareholders’ agreement for RCI or Rogers Wireless to offer to purchase or acquire shares or assets of rival Canadian telecommunications provider Microcell Telecommunications Inc., which is currently fending off a $780 million unsolicited acquisition by Telus Corp. RCI said it has not made any decision regarding a possible acquisition of Microcell’s assets.
