Sprint, T-Mobile Revise Merger Terms

Sprint and T-Mobile have agreed on new terms for their merger, as the wireless carriers race to close the deal. The parties will improve the exchange ratio in the all-stock deal for T-Mobile’s parent, Deutsche Telekom AG. Originally, 9.75 Sprint shares were to be exchanged for each T-Mobile share. Under the revised deal, SoftBank Group, which owns more than 80% of Sprint’s common stock, will exchange the equivalent of 11 of its shares for each T-Mobile share. Sprint’s other shareholders will continue to get the original exchange ratio. Deutsche Telekom is to own about 43% of the combined company now, up from just below 42% when the deal was first announced. SoftBank’s percentage will drop to approximately 24% from 27%. The remaining 33% is to be held by the public, up from 31%. To effect the changes, SoftBank has agreed to surrender 48.8 million T-Mobile shares to the new company, to be called T-Mobile. Those shares could be reissued to SoftBank if T-Mobile’s stock price reaches certain milestones beginning two years after the deal closes.