Verizon hires Morgan Stanley to divest overlapping markets

According to the Financial Times, Verizon Wireless has retained Morgan Stanley to sell the overlapping assets it will have in 85 cellular markets as a result of its proposed acquisition of Alltel Corp. Morgan Stanley has reportedly valued the assets, which are spread throughout the U.S., to be between $3 billion and $4 billion.

Potential buyers had to submit proposals indicating their interest in the assets by Aug. 22 and Morgan Stanley is now expected to circulate the confidential information. A source told the newspaper that groups of carriers and individual carriers are interested in the Verizon's assets but no one has offered a price yet.

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