Deutsche Telekom (DT) could potentially halt the final tally of the shareholder vote to approve the T-Mobile-MetroPCS merger if things don’t appear to be swinging in its favor.
A Bloomberg report is citing people familiar with the matter as saying the delay could provide DT a chance to sweeten its bid. Metro shareholders are sending in their proxy documents in advance of the April 12 meeting where the fate of the deal will be revealed.
The proposed merger of T-Mobile and MetroPCS has been hotly contested by Metro’s shareholders and a number of proxy advisory firms.
Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS) advised MetroPCS shareholders to vote against the transaction, citing the negative market response the merger—which has resulted in sharp declines for PCS since the deal was announced—as well as an unjustifiably low equity split and PCS’s potential to thrive without merging.
The merger has cleared all U.S. regulatory hurdles, leaving only the MetroPCS shareholder vote between it and the finish line.