Iliad Offer $15 Bln Cash For 56.6% Of T-Mobile US

(RTTNews) - Following press speculation, French telecoms operator Iliad on Thursday confirmed its interest in T-Mobile US, Inc. (TMUS).

Iliad said it has submitted an indicative offer for T-Mobile US to the latter's Board of Directors. Iliad has offered $15 billion in cash for 56.6% of T-Mobile US, at $33.0 per share.

Iliad said it values the remaining 43.4% of T-Mobile US at $40.5 per share on the basis of $10 billion of synergies to the benefit of the T-Mobile US shareholders. This leads to an overall value of $36.2 per share.

The cash portion would be financed via a combination of debt and equity. Iliad said it has the support of leading international banks for the acquisition debt. The equity portion would be about €2 billion.

The offer has the full support of Xavier Niel, founder and majority shareholder of Iliad and was unanimously approved by Iliad's Board of Directors.

The deal should not raise any antitrust issue in light of the competition rules given that Iliad is not present in the United States, Iliad noted.

T-Mobile US has been reportedly in talks for sometime about a deal to be acquired by larger U.S. rival Sprint Corp. (S).

T-Mobile shares closed Thursday's regular trading session at $32.94, up $2.00 or 6.46%, and gained an additional 6 cents in after hours trading.