Alltel Stockholders File Suits over Proposed $24.7 Billion Buyout

LITTLE ROCK (AP)--Three lawsuits have been filed challenging a proposed $24.7 billion buyout that wireless provider Alltel Corp. announced over the weekend.

One claims that shareholders are being shorted; another claims preferential treatment for company insiders while making similar allegations that the deal agreed to by the Alltel board was short of what could have been achieved; and the third claims that shareholders can't depend on the company's board to have made a good decision.

A suit filed Monday in Delaware by a South Carolina man who says he owns stock in Alltel claims the buyout announced Sunday is "grossly unfair (to shareholders) and far below the maximum value." Two other suits were filed the same day at Little Rock.

The Delaware lawsuit, which requests class-action status, was filed in Chancery Court at Wilmington, Del., by Lon Engel of South Carolina. Engel's suit names the company, CEO Scott T. Ford and other past directors of Alltel as defendants. Alltel is incorporated in Delaware, but its corporate headquarters are in Little Rock.

Engel's suit asks the court to stop the proposed buyout of the company, which he described as "wrong, unfair and harmful" to stockholders.

Engel also accuses the company of failing to disclose all its offers. Alltel is still in the process of filing disclosure paperwork with federal regulators.

Alltel spokesman Andrew Moreau said the process leading to the proposed buyout was "exceptionally fair."

"The lawsuit only speculate(s) about the events of the last few weeks, and the speculation offered by the plaintiff's attorneys is not factual," Moreau said in a statement. "Alltel believes the lawsuit is without merit and the company will vigorously defend our rights in this litigation. We feel confident in our position."

Alltel announced late Sunday night that TPG Capital and GS Capital Partners, the private-equity arm of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) would buy the company for $71.50 per share. In Tuesday trading on the New York Stock Exchange, Alltel shares slid 82 cents or nearly 1.2% to $69.61.

The Emerson Poynter law firm, with offices at Little Rock and Houston, announced on Tuesday the filing of its lawsuit, as co-counsel with