Greywolf Capital Sends Letter to iPCS Inc. Board Opposing Sprint Nextel Corp. Offer
18 November 2009 - 3:42AM
PR Newswire (US)
NEW YORK, Nov. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Greywolf Capital Management LP
sent the following letter to the Board of Directors of iPCS Inc.
(NASDAQ:IPCS) yesterday, November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 The
Board of Directors iPCS, Inc. 1901 N Roselle Rd, Suite 500
Schaumburg, IL 60195 Dear Members of the Board: Greywolf Capital
Management LP beneficially owns 8.2% of iPCS, Inc. and strongly
opposes the board's decision to sell the company to Sprint Nextel
Corp. at the bargain price of $24 per share. Greywolf has been one
of the largest shareholders of iPCS since 2004, and always expected
that the right strategic decision for Sprint would be to acquire
iPCS. This transaction would allow Sprint to extricate itself from
a legal morass that it has created by continually violating the
letter and spirit of their affiliate agreements with iPCS. It is
our opinion that the $24 takeout price reflects neither the
fundamental business value of iPCS nor the value of iPCS's breach
of contract claims against Sprint. This is a great deal for Sprint,
but the price for iPCS shareholders is far too low. Over the last
five years, Sprint acquired seven of its affiliates for transaction
prices ranging from 8x to 10x EBITDA estimates. Based on the
projections disclosed by iPCS, applying the former affiliate
transaction multiples results in a range of $34 to $47 per share
for iPCS. We believe that these previous affiliate transactions are
more appropriate than the 2008 to 2009 comparables referenced in
the Board's rationale for supporting the $24 per share price. For
instance, the Virgin Mobile transaction (one of the 2008 to 2009
comparables) is only a wireless reseller and does not own any of
its own network infrastructure. Further, while iPCS's Schedule
14D-9 correctly notes that wireless multiples have generally
declined in the past two years, Sprint's own multiple has moved
only marginally since the more applicable affiliate transactions
were completed. The proposed $24 per share transaction price does
not adequately reflect the value of iPCS's successful litigation
against Sprint. Unlike similar lawsuits by previous affiliates,
iPCS's breach of contract claims have been fully litigated,
favorably (for iPCS) ruled upon by the courts, AND upheld on
appeal. Sprint has exhausted all legal avenues for delay. In
January 2009, the Illinois Circuit Court set a date of January 25,
2010 for Sprint to stop competing with iPCS through the operation
of its Nextel business in iPCS's territory. Sprint subsequently
announced in June that it intended to divest the Nextel iDEN
network assets in iPCS's territory by the court-mandated deadline,
an announcement we view as nothing more than a negotiating tactic.
We believe that Sprint has been unrealistic in its public
statements regarding its ability to divest these assets because: --
TECHNICALLY, divestiture is not viable for Sprint due to the
complexity of: 1. splitting apart switch infrastructure, 2.
rerouting cell sites both inside and outside the affected
territories, 3. transferring cell site leases (if possible), 4.
building a new network monitoring system, 5. identifying,
transferring, and partitioning spectrum licenses, 6. providing
billing services, 7. building out a voicemail platform, 8.
providing customer call support services, 9. building out a
dispatch complex for the purchaser, 10. replicating GPS
location-based 911 service, 11. providing a data center for
internet connectivity, 12. renegotiating and transferring vendor
contracts, 13. transferring retail operations and recreating POS
systems, and a host of other service, interconnection, and
regulatory issues. Sprint's own employees attest to these
difficulties in their affidavits filed with the Illinois courts in
September 2006 (see Affidavits of Doug Lynn, Robert S. Foosaner,
Michael Rapp, Scott M. Fisher, and Steven M. Nielsen, iPCS
Wireless, Inc. v. Sprint Corporation et al, Case No. 05-CH-11792).
-- ECONOMICALLY, this approach would be extremely costly, and we do
not believe there is a buyer willing to pay enough to justify the
expense of splitting apart the network. The iDEN assets represent
an outdated technology, operate over a limited service area, and
have a shrinking Nextel subscriber base. The assets are worth far
more to Sprint than to any other buyer. -- LEGALLY, we believe the
judge will see through any transaction that is less than a complete
divestiture of the iDEN assets in question. The only sale that will
satisfy the court's order is one in which Sprint does not provide
substantial services to the purchaser. Regardless of Sprint's
ability to divest the iDEN assets in iPCS's territory, compliance
would still not end the claims that iPCS has against Sprint for
improper competition. iPCS has already initiated similar breach of
contract claims against Sprint for the Clearwire and Virgin Mobile
transactions, and any potential future acquisition or merger by
Sprint would face similar issues. -- In Clearwire, the Illinois
Circuit Court has partially granted iPCS's motion for partial
summary judgment. We believe the remaining limited issues to be
litigated will similarly be resolved in iPCS's favor. -- In the
Virgin Mobile transaction, Sprint will effectively be competing
with iPCS in the affiliate territories, using iPCS's own network to
do so. We believe this is clearly a violation of the management
agreements and will not stand up to the scrutiny of the courts. --
In addition, should Sprint ever consummate an acquisition or merger
with any wireless provider that competes in iPCS's territory, iPCS
would have additional breach of contract claims in the future. We
believe shareholders and the board should disregard Sprint's
various empty threats (as noted in iPCS's Schedule 14D-9) to
economically harm iPCS if the transaction is not completed. Any
improper actions by Sprint will be subject to arbitration or
litigation, and will ultimately fail. For the reason listed above,
we do not intend to tender our shares at the current price of $24
per share. Sprint has the motivation and the ability to acquire
iPCS for a fair price. Should the proposed transaction be rejected,
we stand ready to review a revised deal from Sprint. Sincerely, /s/
Jon Savitz Jon Savitz Greywolf Capital Management LP Greywolf
Capital Management LP: Craig James 914-251-8200 DATASOURCE:
Greywolf Capital Management LP CONTACT: Steve Bruce or Monica
Everett, both of The Abernathy MacGregor Group, +1-212-371-5999
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