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T-Mobile’s US executives have told its controlling shareholder, Deutsche Telekom, that they no longer support a proposed $300 billion merger between the two companies, citing both shareholder and potential regulatory concerns, according to people familiar with the matter.
Some of T-Mobile’s non-controlling shareholders — generally large institutional investors — have told the US company that they would oppose a merger with Deutsche Telekom, the people said, a slower-growing business compared to its American counterpart.
Deal talks between T-Mobile and Telekom kicked off earlier this year and the two companies planned to put a deal to a vote in order to secure the approval from T-Mobile’s non-controlling shareholders, one of these people said. But now, T-Mobile executives aren’t confident the deal would be approved by those shareholders, that person said.
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Separately, T-Mobile executives have also been told by government officials that regulators — including the powerful Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States — would likely seek a guarantee that T-Mobile’s US revenue would be reinvested in or otherwise remain in the country, the people said. The company generated adjusted free cash flow of roughly $18 billion last year, and paid more than $2 billion in dividends to Deutsche Telekom alone.
A T-Mobile spokesperson declined to comment. Spokespeople for Telekom and the Treasury Department, which oversees CFIUS, did not respond to requests for comment.