Telus Corp (T.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) will likely wait for the dust to settle in the courtroom drama surrounding BCE Inc (BCE.TO: Quote, Profile, Research)(BCE.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and its C$34.8-billion ($35.2 billion) privatization before it seriously considers returning with a renewed bid for the company.
Telus, Canada’s No. 2 telephone company, will also want to wait until it sees the outcome of an upcoming auction of Canadian wireless spectrum, which will help it gauge how much more competition is coming to the country’s wireless market.
Analysts say the auction should be wrapped up by mid-July, as should an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada that was launched by BCE after this week’s surprise court ruling that sided with the company’s bondholders and threatened to scuttle the BCE buyout.
The bondholders alleged that the buyout by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and its U.S http://pay-day-home.com. private-equity partners is unfair to them.
There would be no point in Telus bidding before the Supreme Court’s opinion is known. If the court sides with BCE and overturns this week’s ruling, the Teachers’ buyout will triumph.
Teachers’ current C$42.75 a share offer price is too rich to match for Vancouver-based Telus, which was in talks last year to acquire BCE before walking away, citing “inadequacies” in the bidding process.
Credit markets are also tight and Telus shares are down 28 percent from a year ago, making them a less attractive takeover currency.
However, if the Supreme Court sides with the bondholders, the Teachers’ buyout could collapse, taking BCE’s already battered share price with it to C$30 or so.
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