Centennial Cellular Corp. agreed Thursday to be acquired by closely held investment company Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe for $43.50 a share, or about $2 billion in cash and assumed debt.
Losses at New Canaan-based Centennial, which offers rural wireless phone and paging in 10 states and Puerto Rico, widened in the last year. It had sought a buyer since April, when it hired Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Inc.
The price is 13 percent more than Wednesday’s close of $38.37 for Centennial Class A shares.
While AT&T Corp. and other big phone companies have shied away from less-populous regions because it takes longer to make them profitable, investment groups such as New York-based Welsh Carson are attracted to rural areas’ growth and lack of competition. The groups are snatching up the rural wireless companies, figuring that AT&T and the Baby Bells will seek them out in a few years to extend their reach.
Shares of Centennial on Thursday rose $2.62, to $41.
