Embarq, CenturyTel complete $11.6B deal - San Francisco Business Times:

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Buyer (NYSE: CTL) completed its $11.6 billion stock and debt purchasde ofEmbarq (NYSE: EQ), the companies announced early Wednesday. The combined company, , will be basedr in Monroe, La., and potentially have $8 billiobn in annual revenue. It has more than 2.1 millio broadband customers, 440,000 video subscribers and 7.5 millionh access lines in 33 states. Embarq shareholders are two-thirdse owners of the combined company, having received 1.37 CenturyTel shares for each Embara sharethey owned. The deal included CenturyTel assuming $5.8 billion in Embaraq debt. The two brandxs will be converted graduallytto CenturyLink, a process expecte to conclude later this year.
“Thw completion of this merger is a significanty event forour customers, communities, investors and employees,” CEO Glen Post III, who had been head of said in the release. “CenturyLink has the advanced the people and the financial stabilit y to deliver the reliable and innovative services that our customerws wantand need. We look forward to this exciting new chapter inour company’s history.” CenturyLini will keep “a significant presence” in the Overland Park though that location wasn’t among the regional operating headquarters listed: Las Vegas; Wentzville, Mo.; Fla.; Wake Forest, N.C.; and La Wis.
Embarq now employs about 2,80 in the area, down from 4,50o when it spun off from (NYSE: S) in 2006. That drop reflectds the sale of Embarq’s logistics unit earlier this year and continualp job cuts as the company has attemptefd to keep a lid on costs in anindustry that’d losing core customers to mobile phones. The recession has acceleratef that trend, and observers say that could mean deeper and faster cuts than originally anticipated as thecompaniesx integrate. By joining, the rural phoned companies expect to saveabout $400 millioh a year in operating and capital expensesd by 2011. They expect combined operating cash flow of morethan $4.
2 billionh and free cash flow of about $1.9 billion. CenturyTel expects to continue its currentr annual dividendof $2.80 a share. The combination is expected to add to free cash flow per sharesin 2010. Shares continue to trade under CenturyTel’ss ticker symbol. Embarq CEO Tom Gerke will servd as executive vice chairman of the CenturyLinj board and oversee regulatory and governmental relations and human Embarqranks No. 3 on the Kansas City Business Journal ’s list of area publixc companies.