AT&T’s acquisition of T-Mobile USA was fraught with obstacle after obstacle, from their competitors objecting to the merger, to the US Department of Justice saying no as well. While that surely must have stung for AT&T, T-Mobile USA did walk away with a pretty tidy sum which was guaranteed to them should the merger fall through. Since Deutche Telekom failed to sell of T-Mobile USA, recent reports are suggesting that they might be looking to sell of their UK operations instead.
According to reports, Deutsche Telekom was eager to sell off T-Mobile USA to AT&T because they were hoping that they money they made through the sale could help pay off some debts, while at the same time buying back 5 billion Euros worth of their own shares. However since that deal is pretty much dead in the water, reports from Bloomberg suggest that Deutsche Telekom are looking for other ways to finance their plans, which is through the sale of Everything Everywhere.
For those unfamiliar, Everything Everywhere is considered to be the largest carrier in the UK, surpassing O2 when it was formed through the merger of France Telekom and T-Mobile UK back in 2009. While Deutsche Telekom has yet to approach the banks to facilitate a merger of sorts, options for the company include allowing France Telekom to buy them out, find a third party buyer for the entire operation or finding a third party buyer for Deutsche Telekom’s half.
While these details can’t be confirmed now, we’ll have to wonder if Deutsche Telekom will face the same difficulties they did back in the US.
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