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France Telecom Offers $42B for TeliaSonera
French telco looks to expand into Turkey and Russia
By Jim O'Neill
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Posted Jun 5, 08 7:26 AM CDT
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(Newser)
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France Telecom’s long-anticipated takeover bid of Swedish telco TeliaSonera finally landed today—with a thud. TeliaSonera immediately rejected FT’s $42 billion cash-and-stock offering—worth some $10.33 per share—as too low, reports the New York Times. Investors appeared to disagree, pushing France Telecom stock down 4% in Paris as analysts worried the buy was too big.
“The market thinks France Telecom is offering about $3 billion too much for TeliaSonera, based on our calculations. That’s why the stock is falling,” said one analyst. “Also, there are questions about the wisdom of making an acquisition of this magnitude.” FT said the merged companies would be the world’s fourth-largest mobile operator.