Telecom mergers pace to continue - NYT
Reuters Story - January 05, 1998 07:20
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NEW YORK, Jan 5 (Reuters) - The hectic pace of mergers in
the telecommunications industry will continue this year, buoyed
by deregulation and the desire to offer more services, according
to a New York Times article in its "Outlook 98" survey.
The newspaper quoted Robert Kindler, a partner at Cravath,
Swaine & Moore, which advised WorldCom in its $36.5
billion bid for MCI , as saying there will be "an
unprecedented number of large telecom deals in 1998."
"By the end of next year, we likely will see significant
transactions by AT&T , GTE , BT (British
Telecommunications ) and several of the regional Bell
operating companies," Kindler told the Times.
The biggest dampers on the pace of acquisitions could be a
weaker economy and weaker financial markets, the newspaper said.
It noted, though, that the robust stock markets of 1997 put
currency in the form of more valuable stock into the hands of
acquisitive executives, making it easier to issue new shares to
acquire a rival.
As for financing, many of the investors who bought billions
of dollars in zero coupon bonds from fledgling wireless
communications carriers in 1995 and 1996 are still around and
willing to lend, it said. |
