Windstream Corp. (WIN) on Monday said that it has closed its acquisition of NuVox, Inc., a privately held competitive local exchange carrier based in Greenville, S.C., for approximately $647 million.
The company issued about 18.7 million shares of its common stock valued at approximately $187 million, based on Windstream's closing stock price on Feb. 5, 2010, and paid about $280 million in cash as part of the transaction.
Also, Windstream repaid approximately $180 million of NuVox's total outstanding net debt. Windstream financed the acquisition through proceeds from a debt offering in December.
Windstream estimates the transaction will be accretive to free cash flow and lower the company's dividend payout ratio in the first full year after expected annual synergies of approximately $30 million in operating expenses and capital expenditure savings.
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