Qwest ups bid for US West, Frontier

NEW YORK, JUNE 24: Qwest Communications International Inc upped the ante in the takeover battle for US West Inc and Frontier Corp by rais...

NEW YORK, JUNE 24: Qwest Communications International Inc upped the ante in the takeover battle for US West Inc and Frontier Corp by raising its original bids for the phone companies to approximately 47 billion in cash and stock from about 43 billion.

Qwest executives said they are continuing to aggressively pursue US West and Frontier, despite the fact that both companies have agreed to merge with Global Crossing Ltd, an underseas-cable operator. Global Crossing8217;s bids for the two companies are currently valued at about 42 billion in stock, though some people say that these bids provide more assurances for shareholders.

quot;We are doing this to win,quot; said Joseph P Nacchio, chairman and chief executive officer of Qwest, based in Denver. Qwest, which is building a nationwide fiber-optic network, wants to buy the Denver-based U S West for its 25 million customers and expertise in deploying local, high-speed data networks. Frontier, based in Rochester, NY, provides a foothold in the Northeast.

In itssecond round of bids, Qwest is offering 68 in cash and Qwest stock for each share of Frontier an 8 per cent premium over Global Crossing8217;s offer of 63 a share in Global Crossing stock for each Frontier share outstanding. Qwest8217;s offer includes 20 in cash for each share, which is unchanged from its earlier offer. For US West, Qwest is offering Qwest common stock totaling 69 for each US West share outstanding. That compares with Global Crossing8217;s offer of about 1.3 shares of Global Crossing for each U S West share 8212; about 60 a share based on Wednesday8217;s close. Global Crossing also is offering a one-time dividend to U S West holders of as much as 1 a share.

US West closed Wednesday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading at 58 a share, up 1, while Frontier8217;s stock closed at 59.875 a share, up 1.875. In each case, Qwest is addressing concerns about the instability in its stock by now offering a quot;collarquot; to protect Frontier and U S West shareholders if Qwest8217;s shares fall below 30.50a share.