Alltel Taken Private: That's Not the Issue

TPG Capital and Goldman Sachs' private equity unit are acquiring the fifth-largest U.S. wireless provider, Alltel Corp., for about $27.5 billion (chart by Chetan Sharma). The deal is the largest ever buyout in the telecom sector. One wonders just how far private equity firms can go before regulators become concerned. Wireless and cable companies are less likely to raise scrutiny.

But what if BCE, one of Canada's largest telephone companies, is taken private? At what point does the loss of public transparency become an issue for companies that, like it or not, are seen very much as having national interest implications. Not to mention social obligations not generally shared by cable or wireless providers. All the more reason to get a deal done now, fast, before such questions start getting asked, I suppose.