Verizon
Buyout firms KKR and Carlyle made a joint bid, said the people, who declined to be identified because the auction is private. AT&T, the second-biggest U.S. mobile-phone company, and U.S. Cellular Corp. also made offers, according to one of the people. The deadline for bids was last week.
The businesses for sale serve 2.1 million customers in more than 20 states and may fetch as much as $3.5 billion, said Hudson Square Researchs Todd Rethemeier. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission is forcing Verizon to sell the assets after the January purchase of Alltel made the carrier the nations largest mobile-phone company.
Verizon bought Alltel in January from the buyout arm of New York-based Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and TPG Inc. Basking Ridge, New Jersey-based Verizon spent about $28 billion for Alltel, which has about 14 million customers.
Spokespeople from KKR, Carlyle and Blackstone declined to comment, as did Verizon spokesman Peter Thonis, AT&T spokesman Michael Coe and Mark Steinkrauss, a spokesman for U.S. Cellulars parent company Telephone & Data Systems Inc.
In February, Verizon said more than 30 parties had expressed interest in the assets. Carriers are jockeying for a bigger share of the wireless market as the pool of new subscribers shrinks. Phone companies have sold enough wireless devices to cover more than 80 percent of the U.S. population.
Verizon Communications Inc., which co-owns Verizon with Vodafone Group Plc, dropped 75 cents to $31.82 at 10:44 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares had declined 2.6 percent this year before today.
Blackstone Group LP, based in New York, is the worlds largest buyout firm, followed by Washington-based Carlyle. KKR, also in New York, is a private-equity company run by Henry Kravis and George Roberts.