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Deutsche Telekom CEO rules out Iliad bid for T-Mobile
2014-08-07 15:01:00| Telecompaper Headlines
(Telecompaper) Deutsche Telekom has rejected the offer from France's Iliad to acquire T-Mobile US. Deutsche Telekom CEO Tim Hoettges said in a conference call on the company's quarterly results that Iliad's offer did not meet the group's criteria for selling the US subsidiary, Reuters reports. "We have always said that we would be open to offers for T-Mobile US which would improve its position and that of its shareholders," Hoettges said. "At the moment, we don't have an offer which fits those criteria." This appears to rule out Iliad's offer, while Sprint earlier indicated that it was no longer interested in consolidation with T-Mobile. A person close to Iliad told Reuters that the French company would weigh whether to improve its USD 33 per share bid for 56.6 percent of T-Mobile US, but that it first wanted to talk to the German company to learn more about its expectations. Much would depend on whether another bidder emerges, the person said, and whether Iliad can convince Deutsche Telekom of its ability to run T-Mobile in a more cost efficient way. Hoettges said T-Mobile would look for regulatory support if it could not agree a merger. "In the US we have the situation that the two largest operators take more than 100 percent of the cash flow in the market," he said. "If consolidation is not desired, regulators should help to improve the position of smaller operators." The CEO underlined that T-Mobile was still growing strongly on its own and none of the offers for the company "give better growth perspectives than we currently have."
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Category:Telecommunications