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Verio-NTT deal has FBI nod
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August 11, 2000: 1:40 p.m. ET
Tentative agreement said to allay concerns over Internet acquisition
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - National security concerns that posed a potential roadblock to the proposed $5.5 billion acquisition of Web hosting firm Verio by Japan's Nippon Telegraph & Telephone have been resolved by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, according a published report.
Details of an agreement between the U.S. and NTT, crafted over weeks of intense negotiations between the Japanese telecom firm and officials of the FBI and the Justice Department, have not yet been finalized, according to the Wall Street Journal's electronic edition.
NTT had no comment on the report.
NTT Communications, a long-distance and international phone unit of NTT, agreed in May to buy the 90 percent of Verio it does not already own for $60 a share. The Japanese company has had to extend its tender offer four times in response to inquiries from U.S. law enforcement agencies about their ability to serve subpoenas and obtain wiretaps needed for investigations.
Government officials are concerned that NTT's ownership of Verio, which includes an Internet backbone, would inhibit the government's ability to maintain surveillance over the company's telecommunications network.
NTT Communications' proposed acquisition has been under scrutiny since the deal was submitted for clearance by a government agency, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., the Journal said.
Possibly anticipating the agreement, shares of Verio (VRIO: Research, Estimates) jumped 3-11/16 to close at 57-3/16 Thursday on Nasdaq. 
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