ST Telemedia portfolio company Level 3 to merge with CenturyLink

ONE of the companies within ST Telemedia's portfolio, Level 3 Communications which is one of the largest US provider of ethernet services, is merging with Louisana-based CenturyLink - one of the largest phone companies in the US - in a stock-and-cash deal.

Under the agreement, Level 3 shareholders will receive US$26.5 per share in cash and 1.4286 CenturyLink shares for each Level 3 share. The latter implies a purchase price of US$66.50 per Level 3 share - a premium of about 42 per cent based on Level 3's closing share price of US$46.92 on Oct 26.

The deal is subject to regulatory approvals and expected to close by the third quarter of this year.