Acquisition of NTELOS Holdings Corp. and Exchange with Sprint

On May 6, 2016, the Company completed its previously announced acquisition of NTELOS Holdings Corp. (“nTelos”) for $667.8 million, net of cash acquired. The acquisition was entered into to improve shareholder value through the expansion of the Company's wireless service area and customer base while strengthening our relationship with Sprint. The purchase price was financed by a credit facility arranged by CoBank, ACB, Royal Bank of Canada, Fifth Third Bank, Bank of America, N.A., Capital One, National Association, Citizens Bank N.A., and Toronto Dominion (Texas) LLC. The Company has included the operations of nTelos for financial reporting purposes for the period subsequent to the acquisition. The Company has accounted for the acquisition of nTelos under the acquisition method of accounting, in accordance with Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 805, “Business Combinations”, and will account for any measurement period adjustments under Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2015-16, “Simplifying the Accounting for Measurement Period Adjustments”. Under the acquisition method of accounting, the total purchase price is allocated to the tangible and intangible assets acquired and liabilities assumed in connection with the acquisition based on their estimated fair values.

The following table shows the initial estimate of value and changes recorded through December 31, 2016 (in thousands):



	Initial Estimate		Revisions			Revised Estimate
Accounts receivable	$	48,476	$	(2,788	)	$	45,688
Inventory	3,810		762			4,572
Restricted cash	2,167		—			2,167
Investments	1,501		—			1,501
Prepaid expenses and other assets	14,835		—			14,835
Building held for sale	4,950		—			4,950
Property, plant and equipment	223,900		4,376			228,276
Spectrum licenses	198,200		—			198,200
Customer based contract rights	198,200		8,546			206,746
Favorable lease intangible assets	11,000		6,029			17,029
Goodwill	151,627		(6,485		)	145,142
Other long term assets	10,288		555			10,843
Total assets acquired	$	868,954	$	10,995		$	879,949

Accounts payable	$	8,648	$	(105	)	$	8,543
Advanced billings and customer deposits	12,477		—			12,477
Accrued expenses	25,230		(345		)	24,885
Capital lease liability	418		—			418
Deferred tax liabilities	124,964		1,625			126,589
Retirement benefits	19,461		(263		)	19,198
Other long-term liabilities	14,056		6,029			20,085
Total liabilities assumed	205,254		6,941			212,195

Net assets acquired	$	663,700	$	4,054		$	667,754

The fair values of the net assets acquired and the liabilities assumed were based on management’s preliminary estimates and assumptions that are subject to change within the purchase price allocation period (generally one year from the acquisition date). While substantially complete, the primary area of the purchase price allocation not yet finalized includes construction in process and income taxes.

Closing on the sale of the former nTelos headquarters building held for sale was completed in the fourth quarter of 2016.

Revisions to the provisional estimates shown above reflect:


•	revisions to fair value adjustments for financed handset receivables to reflect customer behavior at the time of the acquisition, applied to both the current and long-term portions of these receivables;


•	a reduction in the estimated loss on Android inventory to be sold for salvage post-closing;


•	adjustments to construction materials and inventory, less other fixed assets;


•	an increase to opening taxes receivable based upon completing the 2015 returns


•	the increase in net assets acquired resulting from the settlement of the appraisal rights dispute and an increase in the net debt payoff;


•	reduction in the reserve for health care claims expected to be paid post-closing for medical expenses incurred pre-closing;


•	an adjustment to move unfavorable lease liabilities from assets to other long-term liabilities


•	the value assigned to certain customer based intangibles increased, with an offset to goodwill; and


•	the increase in deferred taxes payable (offset by an increase in goodwill) resulting from several of the changes shown above as well as true-ups in the net tax basis of fixed assets resulting from completion of nTelos' 2015 tax returns.

In addition to the changes in balances reflected above, the Company revised the provisional estimated useful lives of certain assets and recorded an adjustment to depreciation expense of $4.6 million relating to the second quarter for these assets.

Concurrently with acquiring nTelos, PCS completed its previously announced transaction with SprintCom, Inc., an affiliate of Sprint Corporation (“Sprint”). Pursuant to this transaction, among other things, the Company exchanged spectrum licenses, valued at $198.2 million and customer based contract rights, valued at $206.7 million, acquired from nTelos with Sprint, and received an expansion of its affiliate service territory to include most of the service area served by nTelos, valued at $284.1 million, as well as additional customer based contract rights, valued at $120.9 million, relating to nTelos’ and Sprint’s legacy customers in the Company’s affiliate service territory. These exchanges were accounted for in accordance with ASC 845, “Nonmonetary Transactions”. The transfer of spectrum to Sprint resulted in a taxable gain to the Company which will be recognized as the Company recognizes the cash benefit of the waived management fees over the next approximately six years.

The value of the affiliate agreement expansion is based on changes to the amended affiliate agreement that include:


•	an increase in the price to be paid by Sprint from 80% to 90% of the entire business value of PCS if the affiliate agreement is not renewed;


•	extension of the affiliate agreement with Sprint by five years to 2029;


•	expanded territory in the nTelos service area;


•	rights to serve all future Sprint customers in the affiliate service territory;


•	the Company’s commitment to upgrade certain coverage and capacity in its newly acquired service area; and

•

a reduction of the management fee charged by Sprint under the amended affiliate agreement; not to exceed $4.2 million in an individual month until the total waived fee equals $251.8 million, as well as an additional waiver of the management fee charged with respect to the former nTelos customers until the earlier of migration to the Sprint back-office billing and related systems or six months following the acquisition; not to exceed $5.0 million.

Intangible assets resulting from the acquisition of nTelos and the Sprint exchange, both described above, are noted below (dollars in thousands):



	Useful Life	Basis
Affiliate contract agreement	14 years	$	284,100
Customer based contract rights	4-10 years	120,855
Favorable lease intangible assets	3-19 years	17,029

The affiliate contract agreement intangible asset value was increased by $29.7 million during the third quarter of 2016 and reduced by $3.7 million during the fourth quarter of 2016, and will be amortized on a straight-line basis and recorded as a contra-revenue over the remaining 14 year initial contract term. The Company recorded an adjustment of $0.4 million of additional amortization expense on this asset based on the increase during the third quarter of 2016 that related to the second quarter of 2016, while the fourth quarter decrease resulted in reduced amortization expense of $0.1 million in the third quarter of 2016. The favorable lease intangible assets will be amortized on a straight-line basis and recorded through rent expense. The customer based contract rights will be amortized over the life of the customers, gradually decreasing over the expected life of this asset, and recorded through amortization expense. The customer based contract rights value was reduced by $24.5 million during the third quarter of 2016, and amortization expense was reduced by $0.5 million during the third quarter that related to second quarter 2016. These assets were increased by $7.1 million during the fourth quarter of 2016, resulting in additional amortization expense of $0.3 million and $0.4 million in the second and third quarters, respectively, of 2016. The value of these two assets changed primarily due to the effect on the initial provisional values of where certain cash flows should be reflected in those valuations.

The Company has recorded goodwill in its Wireless segment as a result of the nTelos acquisition. This goodwill is not amortizable for tax purposes, as the Company acquired the common stock of nTelos.

Prior to the acquisition, nTelos was eligible to receive up to $5.0 million in connection with its winning bid in the Connect America Fund's Mobility Fund Phase I Auction ("Auction 901"). Pursuant to the terms of Auction 901, nTelos obtained a Letter of Credit (“LOC”) in the amount of $2.2 million for the benefit of the Universal Service Administrative Company (“USAC”) to cover each disbursement plus the amount of the performance default penalty (10% of the total eligible award). In accordance with the terms of the LOC, nTelos deposited $2.2 million into a separate account at the issuing bank to serve as cash collateral and this balance was presented as restricted cash. These funds were released to the Company during the fourth quarter of 2016 when the LOC was terminated.

Prior to the acquisition, certain third party investors held a non-controlling interest in one of nTelos’ subsidiaries. Concurrently with the acquisition of nTelos, the Company acquired these interests in exchange for 380,000 shares of Company common stock, to be paid in five equal installments, with the first installment paid immediately and the remaining four to be paid over the next 4 years. This transaction was valued at $10.4 million.

In connection with the acquisition, at closing, the Company borrowed $810.0 million in term loans with a weighted average effective interest rate of approximately 3.84%. The proceeds were used to finance in part the acquisition, including the repayment of the Company’s term loan of $195.5 million, and the repayment of nTelos’ term loans at the outstanding principal amount of $521.6 million, without penalty.

Following are the unaudited pro forma results of the Company for the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015, as if the acquisition of nTelos had occurred at the beginning of each of the periods presented. (in thousands)



	Years Ended December 31,
	2016		2015
Operating revenues	$	646,769	$	678,475
Income before income taxes	$	2,989	$	54,716

The pro forma disclosures shown above are based upon estimated preliminary valuations of the assets acquired and liabilities assumed as well as preliminary estimates of depreciation and amortization charges thereon, that may differ from the final fair values of the acquired assets and assumed liabilities and the resulting depreciation and amortization charges thereon. Other pro forma adjustments include the following:


•	changes in nTelos’ reported revenues from cancelling nTelos’ wholesale contract with Sprint;


•	the incorporation of the Sprint-homed customers formerly serviced under the wholesale agreement into the Company’s affiliate service territory under the Company’s affiliate agreement with Sprint;

•

the effect of other changes to revenues and expenses due to various provisions of the affiliate agreement, including fees charged under the affiliate agreement on revenues from former nTelos customers, a reduction of the net service fee charged by Sprint, the straight-line impact of the waived management fee, and the amortization of the affiliate agreement expansion intangible asset; and the elimination of non-recurring transaction related expenses incurred by the Company and nTelos;


•	the elimination of certain nTelos operating costs associated with billing and care that are covered under the fees charged by Sprint under the affiliate agreement;


•	historical depreciation expense was reduced for the fair value adjustment decreasing the basis of property, plant and equipment; this decrease was offset by a shorter estimated useful life to conform to the Company’s standard policy and the acceleration of depreciation on certain equipment; and


•	incremental amortization due to the customer-based contract rights associated with acquired customers.

In connection with these transactions, the Company chose to proactively migrate the former nTelos customers to devices which can interact with the Sprint billing and network systems, and expects to incur a total of approximately $90 million of integration and acquisition expenses associated with this transaction, excluding approximately $23 million of debt issuance costs. These costs include the nTelos back office staff and support functions until the nTelos legacy customers are migrated to the Sprint billing platform; costs of the handsets to be provided to nTelos legacy customers as they migrate to the Sprint billing platform; severance costs for back office and other former nTelos employees who will not be retained permanently; transaction related fees; net of proceeds from the sale of the former nTelos headquarters building. We have incurred $54.7 million of these costs in the year ended December 31, 2016, including $1.3 million reflected in cost of goods and services and $11.1 million reflected in selling, general and administrative costs in the year ended December 31, 2016.

The amounts of operating revenue and income or loss before income taxes related to the former nTelos entity are not readily determinable due to intercompany transactions, allocations and integration activities that have occurred in connection with the operations of the combined company.