T-Mobile improves its bid for MetroPCS, prompts MetroPCS to delay its vote
While executives at T-Mobile and MetroPCS may be ready to close their merger, some shareholders aren't -- major advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services has been recommending that MetroPCS investors vote against the deal unless T-Mobile can sweeten the pot. Consider it sweetened. T-Mobile's parent Deutsche Telekom has made a "final offer" that would slash the debt owed by the post-merger company by $3.8 billion (to $11.2 billion), reduce the interest rate on that debt by half a point and prevent Deutsche Telekom from selling its shares in the merged firm for 18 months, rather than the original six. The reshuffled finances may not sound very exciting on the surface, but they're enough to put MetroPCS in a tizzy: the carrier is delaying a shareholder vote on the deal from April 12th to the 24th to allow for some reevaluations. There's no guarantees that the new offer is enough to please the naysayers. Still, we'd venture that T-Mobile will get a warmer reaction than the last time it tried a corporate alliance.
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MetroPCS Reschedules Special Meeting of Stockholders to April 24, 2013
RICHARDSON, Texas, April 10, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- MetroPCS Communications, Inc. (NYSE: PCS; "MetroPCS" or the "Company") today announced that it has rescheduled its Special Meeting of stockholders to vote on matters relating to the proposed combination of MetroPCS with T-Mobile USA, Inc. ("T-Mobile") to April 24, 2013 at 8:00 am Central Time, at the Eisemann Center located at 2351 Performance Drive, Richardson, Texas 75082. The decision to postpone the Special Meeting was mutually agreed upon by Deutsche Telekom and MetroPCS to allow MetroPCS stockholders additional time to, subject to approval by the MetroPCS board of directors, consider a proposal from Deutsche Telekom to revise the business combination agreement, dated October 3, 2012, among MetroPCS and Deutsche Telekom AG.
Valid proxies that have already been submitted prior to the originally scheduled April 12, 2013 meeting will continue to be valid unless properly changed or revoked prior to the vote being taken at the Special Meeting. The record date of March 11, 2013 for the meeting has not been changed.
Stockholders who have not voted are strongly encouraged to do so prior to 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on April 23, 2013. Stockholders who need assistance in voting or changing their vote should contact MacKenzie Partners at 800-322-2885 (toll-free) or 212-929-5500 (call collect).
