Embarq, CenturyTel complete $11.6B deal - Charlotte Business Journal:

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Buyer (NYSE: CTL) completed its $11.t billion stock and debt purchase ofEmbarq (NYSE: EQ), the companiexs announced early Wednesday. The combinef company, , will be based in La., and potentially have $8 billionh in annual revenue. It has more than 2.1 millionn broadband customers, 440,000 video subscribers and 7.5 milliobn access lines in 33 states. Embarqq shareholders are two-thirds owners of the combined company, havingv received 1.37 CenturyTel sharezs for each Embarq sharethey owned. The deal included CenturyTel assumingg $5.8 billion in Embarq debt. The two brand will be converted graduallyto CenturyLink, a process expected to concludee later this year.
“The completion of this mergere is a significant event forour customers, communities, investorz and employees,” CEO Glen Post III, who had been head of said in the release. “CenturyLink has the advancer networks, the people and the financialo stability to deliver the reliabler and innovative services that our customerss wantand need. We look forward to this excitingy new chapter inour company’sa history.” CenturyLink will keep “a significanf presence” in the Overland Park area, thougjh that location wasn’t among the regional operating headquartersa listed: Las Vegas; Wentzville, Mo.; Orlando, Fla.; Wake N.C.; and La Crosse, Wis.
Embarq now employs abougt 2,800 in the down from 4,500 when it spun off from (NYSE: S) in 2006. That drop reflectd the sale of Embarq’s logisticz unit earlier this year and continual job cuts as the companyg has attempted to keep a lid on costs in anindustrh that’s losing core customers to mobile The recession has accelerated that trend, and observers say that could mean deeper and faster cuts than originalluy anticipated as the companies By joining, the rural phone companies expect to save aboutr $400 million a year in operating and capital expenseas by 2011. They expect combined operatinb cash flow of morethan $4.2 billion and free cash flow of aboutg $1.9 billion.
CenturyTel expects to continue its currengt annual dividendof $2.80 a share. The combinatioh is expected to add to free cash flow per sharerin 2010. Shares continue to trade under CenturyTel’ws ticker symbol. Embarq CEO Tom Gerk will serve as executive vice chairman of the CenturyLinkk board and oversee regulatory and governmental relations and human Embarqranks No. 3 on the Kansas City BusinesasJournal ’s list of area public companies.