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Bell Canada goes mobile
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July 30, 1999: 2:09 p.m. ET
Canada's largest phone company buys rest of BCE Mobile for $1.06B
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - BCE Inc.'s Bell Canada, Canada's biggest telecommunications company, Friday said it plans to purchase the 35 percent of BCE Mobile Communications Inc. it doesn't already own for approximately C$1.6 billion (US$1.06 billion) in cash.
Under terms of the agreement, BCE Mobile shareholders will receive C$58.75 for each of their shares, a 20 percent premium over its Thursday closing price of C$49. Both companies' shares trade in Toronto and New York.
Bell Canada will finance the purchase through the sale of new stock to BCE, which owns 80 percent, and Ameritech Corp., which owns the remaining 20 percent.
BCE Mobile was formed in 1987 as a 85-percent-owned subsidiary of Montreal-based BCE. In May, BCE transferred its ownership in BCE Mobile to Bell Canada as part of a restructuring program.
BCE Mobile provides wireless phone services to some 2.2 million Canadians under the Bell Mobility brand name. Friday afternoon, its shares rose C$8.65, or about 18 percent, to $57.65 in Toronto and jumped 5-5/8 to 38-3/8 in New York. BCE's stock rose C$1 to C$75.05 in Toronto and in New York gained 29/32 to 49-13/16. 
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