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Technology Stocks : WCOM -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ANANT who wrote (2703)	6/22/1998 12:39:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 11568

WorldCom's MCI Purchase Secures EU Antitrust Approval (Update1) Bloomberg News June 22, 1998, 10:40 a.m. ET WorldCom's MCI Purchase Secures EU Antitrust Approval (Update1) (Updates lead to say all remaining antitrust concerns have been met; adds share price in 4th paragraph.) Brussels, June 22 (Bloomberg) -- European Union regulators agreed to approve WorldCom Inc.'s proposed $43.7 billion purchase of MCI Communications Corp. after MCI addressed all remaining questions about its offer to sell its Internet business, a European Commission spokesman said. ''Everything has been addressed,'' said Stefan Rating, spokesman for EU Competition Commissioner Karel Van Miert, adding that negotiations between WorldCom, MCI and commission officials have ended. He wouldn't comment on the details of the agreement reached with the companies or on whether MCI named a buyer for its Internet business. An EU official close to the negotiations said Friday regulators would approve the acquisition within days if MCI made some final assurances it won't re-absorb its Internet customers from the company that buys its Internet business. The commission, the EU's executive agency, will give its formal approval on July 8, Rating said. The clearance will bring MCI and WorldCom one step closer to completing the purchase later this summer, creating the second-largest U.S. phone company and a stronger competitor to No. 1 AT&T Corp. Shares of Mississippi-based WorldCom rose 1/2 to 47 9/16. Washington-based MCI rose 1/2 to 57. MCI agreed earlier this month to sell all its Internet assets, after its proposed sale of its wholesale Internet business to Cable & Wireless Plc failed to satisfy EU concerns. MCI's earlier agreement with Cable & Wireless only included MCI's wholesale clients and not business and consumer Internet customers. The combined MCI-WorldCom will control about a quarter of the $70 billion-a-year U.S. long-distance market and offer local services in more than 100 cities. EU antitrust officials' decision to approve the acquisition, which was backed on Friday by a committee of competition officials from the 15 EU countries, will need approval by the 20-member commission. EU officials have been working in tandem with U.S. Justice Department and Federal Communications Commission officials, who also must approve the purchase. Analysts and investors expect approval from the Justice Department to come soon after a go-ahead from the EU. --Alison Jahncke in the Brussels bureau (32 2) 285 4300/jgn