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Canada's biggest telecom companies - BCE, Rogers Communications
Inc and Telus Corp - are locked in an intense battle to
increase their share of the wireless market.
BCE will pay C$40 per share, representing a premium of 22
percent to Manitoba Telecom's Friday closing.
Montreal-based BCE will also assume the company's outstanding
debt of about C$800 million.
BCE said it would divest about one-third of Manitoba Telecom's
postpaid wireless subscribers to Telus Corp following the
completion of the deal.
BCE, which is known as Bell to its customers, also said on
Monday it plans to invest C$1 billion over five years after the
transaction closes to expand its broadband networks and services
in Manitoba.
Manitoba Telecom shareholders will have a choice of receiving
C$40 in cash or 0.6756 of a BCE share for each share held.
BCE said it would pay 55 percent of the purchase price in stock
and the remainder in cash.
BCE will fund the cash component internally and will issue about
28 million shares for the deal.
BCE said last Thursday it added nearly 26,000 postpaid wireless
customers in the first quarter, helping it post a
better-than-expected profit.
Toronto-based Rogers added 14,000 in the same period.
Telus, which is based in Vancouver, is due to report results on
Thursday.
($1 = 1.2517 Canadian dollars)
(Reporting by Arathy S Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel
and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
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