Telephone & Data Systems (TDS) withdrew its all-stock proposal to buy Array Digital Infrastructure’s remaining shares on Sept. 1, retaining its 82% stake. Management favors buybacks and plans to monetize Array spectrum, but has set no schedule or price targets.
Under the proposal, Array’s outside shareholders would have received 0.86 TDS shares for each share. TDS withdrew after talks with an Array board special committee failed to resolve disagreements over the exchange ratio and relative valuations; the deal’s expected synergies and administrative savings will not be realized for now.
Management said market conditions favor repurchases over issuing shares; $523.9 million remained under TDS’s board buyback authorization as of June 30. TDS and Array plan to monetize Array’s remaining wireless spectrum to help fund TDS Telecom’s fiber expansion. The article lists TDS’s trailing 12-month revenue at $5.08 billion, three-year revenue growth at 1.2%, annual operating cash flow at $1.12 billion, liquidity at $1.45 billion and historical return on invested capital at 2.1%.
