because it fell victim to the downturn in the stock market.

CoreComm Ltd ended up with a deal worth about $420 million less than it initially anticipated when its agreement closed two weeks ago.

CoreComm Ltd. of Bermuda, an Internet, telephone and data firm, in March announced its intention to buy ATX for $900 million.

However, 12.4 million shares of CoreComm stock that were part of the deal and had been worth north of $500 million before the market's spring nosedive lost nearly 80 percent of their value.

ATX ended up with about $495 million, in a combination of common and preferred stock, cash and notes.

At the March 10 announcement of the acquisition, CoreComm's stock closed at $47.88. When the deal closed on September 29, its stock was trading at $7.94, cleaving hundreds of millions out of the value of the transaction.

CoreComm expected to complete the deal during the summer, according to documents it filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, but approvals from regulators, stockholders, vendors and financiers held up the closing until the third quarter.

CoreComm's falling stock price also delayed closing until fall, according to Michael Forman, a lawyer representing Bala Cynwyd-based ATX.

In March, CoreComm said the $900 million it would pay for ATX consisted of $500 million of its common stock, $250 million of its convertible preferred stock -- initially convertible into common stock at $44.36 per share -- $80 million in cash and $70 million in a combination of cash and two-year notes.

By the end of September, when the deal closed, CoreComm's 12.4 million shares were worth about $100 million. To wrap things up, it also used the $250 million in convertible preferred stock, $35 million in cash and $109 million in three-year notes.

BUSINESS BUC