LITTLE ROCK — $26.3 billion deal for Alltel gets FCC nod
Alltel Corp. said Friday that its $26.3 billion acquisition by two private equity firms has been approved by the Federal Communications Commission.
The deal for the Little Rock-based wireless carrier to be bought by TPG Capital and GS Capital Partners is expected to close before Thanksgiving, or Nov. 22, Alltel said in a release.
The FCC said in a release that it has found the deal won't "result in competitive harm in the mobile telephony market because it will not reduce the number of wireless services providers in the markets where Alltel operates."
Shareholders approved the deal in August. They will receive $71.50 per share in cash at closing.
Alltel shares closed on the New York Stock Exchange at $71 Friday, up 32 cents.
Acxiom Corp. sets date for shareholder meeting
Acxiom Corp. on Friday said its annual shareholders meeting has been scheduled for Dec. 21 at 10 a.m.
Unlike the Little Rockbased data broker's meeting last year, which was held in New York City, this year's event will take place in Little Rock at Acxiom's River Market Building at 601 E. Third St.
Earlier this month, Acxiom said the meeting would be held more than 30 days later than the anniversary of last year's meeting, which was Sept. 27. Acxiom also said then that it had extended to Nov. 6 the deadline for the submission of shareholder proposals for the meeting.
The meeting was delayed because Acxiom had been waiting on the outcome of a $3 billion buyout proposal.
The buyout by a private equity firm and hedge fund fell through.
On Friday, shares fell to another 52-week low on the Nasdaq stock exchange, closing at $13.01, down 13 cents.
Deltic, Wal-Mart lead
Arkansas 20 advance
The Arkansas 20, a priceweighted index that tracks public companies based in the state, rose 1.57 to 211.78 Friday.
Half the 20 stocks advanced.
USA Truck dropped to a 52-week low of $13.12 before closing at $13.15, down 4.5 percent on four times its normal volume.
Deltic Timber was up 5.1 percent in light trading.
Wal-Mart gained 1.7 percent after Merrill Lynch raised its rating to neutral from sell. Merrill Lynch had rated Wal-Mart sell since August, the only sell rating the retailer had.
For the week, nine stocks advanced and 11 declined.
Deltic Timber gained 9.6 percent for the week. USA Truck was off 6.7 percent for the week.
Volume on the index was 35.8 million shares. The average daily volume is 41.5 million shares.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.
Business, Pages 37 on 10/27/2007