Leap Wireless shareholders are jumping ahead of the deal in front of them.
AT&T yesterday agreed to buy the wireless company for $15 a share, an 88 percent premium to yesterday’s closing price of $7.98, which is near historical lows.
After years of sale rumors, investors pushed the shares up to $17.45 in after-hours trades — more than the $15-a-share offer — betting that there is more upside.
The AT&T deal doesn’t include proceeds from the sale of some Leap spectrum in Chicago, which will go to shareholders. Leap bought the spectrum for $204 million last year.
AT&T said yesterday it had reached a deal with owners of 30 percent of Leap’s stock — roughly the percentage owned by Leap Chairman Mark Rachesky.
AT&T has largely been on the sidelines during a recent wave of consolidation, including SoftBank’s deal for Sprint and the T-Mobile-MetroPCS merger.
Meanwhile, Rachesky — who has long demanded a big premium to sell Leap — appears to have finally folded.
Previously, he has twice rejected overtures from MetroPCS — one for $69 a share in 2007 and another for $20 a share in 2010.
“He always demanded a big premium,” said a source.
Rachesky’s hedge fund, MHR, did not return calls for comment.
In recent months, Rachesky was put in a tough position, with T-Mobile agreeing to buy rival MetroPCS, giving MetroPCS national service.
That made it much harder for Leap to compete with a similar prepaid product that did not have national coverage.
Leap’s network — under the Cricket brand — covers roughly 96 million people in 35 US states with mostly a 3G network.