France’s Iliad ends T-mobile takeover bid

In a rather audacious takeover attempt, a French telecommunications company tried this year to buy control of T-Mobile US, the big US wireless provider, for $15 billion, or as much as its own market value, The New York Times reported.

Iliad SA, the owner of French telecom unit Free Mobile, first made an offer as T-Mobile US was in talks about a merger with Sprint, in a bid to create a true third rival to Verizon Wireless and AT&T, the two largest US cellphone carriers.

However, Iliad said in a statement yesterday, that it was ending its efforts to take over T-Mobile US, despite having increased the stake it was willing to to acquire and the price it was willing to pay for it.

T-Mobile and its largest shareholder, the German telecommunications group Deutsche Telekom, showed no interest in the first offer, or even the sweetened bid that was recently presented.

Consequently, the company ended its efforts ''following exchanges with Deutsche Telekom and selected board members of T-Mobile US who have refused to entertain its new offer.''

The company had in July, offered $15 billion for 56.6 per cent of T-Mobile US, a surprising move that announced the global ambitions of Iliad, which had disrupted the market for cellphone plans in France.

The company said in a statement, "the Iliad Group announces that it puts an end to its project of acquiring T-Mobile US, following exchanges with Deutsche Telekom and selected board members of T-Mobile US who have refused to entertain its new offer," PC Mag reported.

According to Iliad, it wanted to "accelerate" T-Mobile's US transformation by saving about $2 billion annually. "This transaction would have created significant value for both Iliad's and T-Mobile US' shareholders," Iliad said today.

T-Mobile,  entertained numerous acquisition offers, including a high-profile failed merger bid from AT&T in 2011, offered no comment on Iliad's decision.

Late last year, reports emerged that Sprint would try to acquire T-Mobile, but the deal fell through in August, leading to the ouster of CEO Dan Hesse.

According to commentators, Sprint's bid faced too much regulatory scrutiny (See: Regulatory resistance forces Sprint to drop T-Mobile bid).

The FCC however also floated rules that would ban joint bids in its upcoming spectrum auction, something T-Mobile and Sprint had reportedly considered as a condition of their merger.