Sprint to sell its yellow pages publishing business

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. -- Sprint Corp. is selling its yellow pages publishing business as part of an effort to relieve heavy debt, the telecommunications company said Sunday.

The $2.23 billion cash sale to R.H. Donnelly, expected to close early next year, is the latest in a string of phone-directory sales by debt-laden telecoms seeking some financial breathing room.

In August, Denver-based Qwest Communications sold its QwestDex directory unit for $7.05 billion to reduce some of its $26.6 billion in debt. Five months earlier, telecom McLeodUSA Inc. closed a deal to sell its directory to the British Yell Group, which already owned Yellow Book USA.

Sprint Publishing & Advertising is the nation's sixth-largest directory publisher, with more than 260 white and yellow page books in 18 states. The unit has annual revenue of about $560 million and 1,033 employees, including about 400 in the Kansas City area.

R.H. Donnelley, which markets Yellow Pages, will continue operating the directory business from Sprint's suburban Kansas City, Mo. headquarters.

Sprint had announced in March that it had obtained a $1 billion loan commitment and hired investment firms for advice on what its directory publishing business may be worth in a sale.