Deutsche Telekom has sold US$5.6bn of the T-Mobile US bonds it holds, up from an initial US$3.1bn due to strong investor appetite. The high-yield notes had been issued by T-Mobile to its German parent. These form part of a US$11.2bn private placement…
Deutsche Telekom has sold US$5.6bn of the T-Mobile US bonds it holds, up from an initial US$3.1bn due to strong investor appetite.
The high-yield notes had been issued by T-Mobile to its German parent. These form part of a US$11.2bn private placement when the US operator merged with MetroPCS earlier this year, as a way to structure the new company’s debt.
DT will keep hold of the remaining US$5.6bn debt, which are in the form of senior reset notes.
Today it announced that it had sold five different series of notes: US$1.25bn 6.464% senior notes due 2019; US$1.25bn 6.542% senior notes due 2020; US$1.25bn 6.633% senior notes due 2021; US$1.25bn 6.731% senior notes due 2022; and US$600m 6.836% senior notes due 2023.
According to an SEC filing, Deutsche Bank is leading a group of joint book-running managers, which also includes Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley.
DT said it will use the proceeds for general corporate purposes.
The German incumbent has looked for a way to leave the US for a few years. It agreed a US$39bn deal to sell its T-Mobile unit to AT&T in 2011, before being stymied by regulators which did not want the US’ biggest telco to get significantly bigger.
Following the MetroPCS merger, T-Mobile US has been trading on the NYSE and has been doing well – its shares have risen close to 60% since May, from US$16.25 to US$25.82 at close yesterday.
