Bell purchases MTS in $3.9 billion dealThere is more consolidation in the Canadian telecom space today.
BCE Inc., parent company to Canada's third-largest wireless carrier Bell Mobility, has announced a deal to purchase Manitoba Telecom Services, known to most Manitobans as MTS, for $3.9 billion CAD. The deal includes $3.1 billion in stock and $800 in existing MTS debt.
The deal comes after MTS struggled to find a buyer for its Allstream fiber business, after the government initially blocked the sale to a holding company owned by Egyptian telecom mogul, Naguib Sawiris back in 2013. MTS eventually sold Allstream to a U.S.-based firm, Zayo, for $465 million, in January.
Now, MTS, the so-called regional wireless incumbent in Manitoba with some one million customers, is set to divest itself of its remaining telecom assets. Its wireless, home internet, and television divisions will merge with Bell's, and BCE will form its new Western Canada headquarters in Winnipeg, keeping 6,900 employees in the province.
Moreover, the c...
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Bell purchases MTS in $3.9 billion deal
