T-Mobile US and Sprint revise merger terms

T-Mobile US and Sprint agreed on new merger terms and were looking to close the deal as early as April 1.
T-Mobile retail networkUnder the revised deal, T-Mobile’s parent Deutsche Telekom will hold about 43 percent of the combined entity, up from the 42 percent that the German group would have held. SoftBank will hold about 24 percent as against 27 percent planned earlier, and the rest by public shareholders.

SoftBank has agreed to surrender about 48.8 million T-Mobile shares acquired in the merger to the ‘new company’ after the deal closes, changing the exchange ratio to 11 Sprint shares for each T-Mobile share, higher than the originally agreed 9.75 shares.

Sprint shareholders other than SoftBank will continue to receive the original fixed exchange ratio.

Last week, a federal judge approved the merger deal, rejecting a claim by a group of states that said the proposed transaction would violate antitrust laws and raise prices.

New York on Sunday dropped its fight against the merger of the U.S. wireless carriers, saying the state would not appeal the judge’s approval of the deal.

Deutsche Telekom CEO Tim Hoettges said on Wednesday the new T-Mobile would have a market value of around $120 billion. That compares with $274 billion for AT&T and $242 billion for Verizon.