The Department of Justice has given its go-ahead to the T-Mobile USA/MetroPCS merger that would combine the fourth and fifth-largest mobile operators in the US. Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile’s parent, said the deal reached “an important staging post”…
The Department of Justice has given its go-ahead to the T-Mobile USA/MetroPCS merger that would combine the fourth and fifth-largest mobile operators in the US.
Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile’s parent, said the deal reached “an important staging post” after a key antitrust deadline passed without an objection from the DoJ.
However, the deal still requires approvals from the FCC and the Committee on Foreign Investment, as well as MetroPCS shareholders who are set to vote on the move on 12 April.
Deutsche Telekom will own 74% of the enlarged company if the plan is given the green light. The transaction is being structured as a reverse merger, which will see T-Mobile USA being acquired by the public holding group of MetroPCS.
Recently the largest shareholder in MetroPCS announced it would not be supporting the merger because of concerns about the deal’s structure.
Paulson & Co, which owns around 9.9% of MetroPCS, warned it would leave the group with too much debt at too high an interest to be a competitive wireless player. The shareholder claimed MetroPCS was worth more as an independent company and should wait for better offers.
