T-Mobile USA sweetens bid for US carrier MetroPCS

BERLIN (AP) ? Deutsche Telekom AG, the parent company of T-Mobile USA, is raising its bid for MetroPCS Communications Inc. in what it calls its "best and final offer."

The announcement late Wednesday comes ahead of a special shareholder meeting being held by Dallas-based MetroPCS Friday.

The deal would merge the fourth- and fifth-largest cellphone carriers in the U.S.

Telekom says the original offer had T-Mobile USA contributing $15 billion in shareholder loans to the combined company. The new offer reduces those loans to $11.2 billion, "significantly increasing the equity value of the combined company."

Telekom says it will also reduce the interest rate on those loans by 50 basis points.

The ownership structure remains unchanged, with 26 percent of shares being held by current MetroPCS shareholders and 74 percent by Deutsche Telekom.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-04-11-T-Mobile%20USA-MetroPCS/id-d6f4cb4a275e4a6984d85232fbcda8c0

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