TPG Capital and GS Capital Partners in Sale of Alltel to Verizon Wireless

Cleary Gottlieb represented TPG Capital and GS Capital Partners in connection with the sale of Alltel Corporation to Verizon Wireless. Verizon Wireless paid approximately $5.9 billion for the equity of Alltel and assumed approximately $22.2 billion of Alltel’s debt, net of cash. The transaction was announced on June 5, 2008, and closed on January 9. The U.S. Department of Justice approved the transaction in October 2008, the Federal Trade Commission approved it in early November 2008 and the Federal Communications Commission in early December 2008.

Verizon Wireless is the joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone. The sale of Alltel increased the number of Verizon Wireless customers to more than 83.7 million, making it the largest wireless carrier in the country. Approximately 2.1 million of those customers are in markets that will be divested by Verizon Wireless in the coming months, as required by the DOJ and the FCC as a condition of the merger approval. The sale took place just over a year after TPG Capital and GS Capital Partners acquired Alltel.

TPG Capital is a leading private investment firm with more than $50 billion of capital under management. GS Capital Partners is The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.’s private equity vehicle and a global leader in corporate equity investing.