March 29, 2024

Deutsche Telekom Weighs Options to Aid T-Mobile Sale

“There’s no point in lamenting,” Deutsche Telekom’s chief executive, René Obermann, said on Monday. “We’ve got the authority’s complaint and now we have to deal with it.”

A Deutsche Telekom spokesman, Philipp Kornstaedt, said in an interview by phone on Monday that, “if there are conditions to be attached to the transaction, we will work on the matter together with ATT.”

The proposed takeover, which the Justice Department sued to block on Wednesday, is the largest announced acquisition this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It is also the biggest move by Mr. Obermann in his almost five years as Deutsche Telekom’s chief.

“I’m sure they’ll be proactively entering into discussions with regulators on a region-by-region basis,” said Mark James, an analyst for Liberum Capital in London. “If you’re a Deutsche Telekom investor, you’re going in the face of regulatory uncertainty.”

Deutsche Telekom will continue to record T-Mobile USA, which accounted for 24 percent of net revenue in the second quarter, as a “discontinued” operation in its financial reports, Mr. Kornstaedt said. Its net income dropped 55 percent in the first six months of 2011 as its base of subscribers declined by 663,000, or 2.5 percent.

The purchase of T-Mobile USA would combine the second- and fourth-largest carriers in the United States, dethroning Verizon Wireless as the market leader. The combined company would dwarf the No. 3 carrier, Sprint Nextel, which has argued against the deal.

Shares of Deutsche Telekom fell 4.6 percent, to close at 8.33 euros ($11.74) in Frankfurt on Monday. The shares have declined 13 percent since the Justice Department filed its lawsuit. Shares of ATT slipped 0.8 percent, to close at $28.05 on Friday. United States markets were closed on Monday for Labor Day.

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