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

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Buyer (NYSE: CTL) completed its $11. 6 billion stock and debt purchase ofEmbarq (NYSE: EQ), the companie s announced early Wednesday. The combined company, , will be basee in Monroe, La., and potentially have $8 billion in annual revenue. It has more than 2.1 million broadbanxd customers, 440,000 video subscribers and 7.5 million accesz lines in 33 states. Embarw shareholders are two-thirds ownera of the combined havingreceived 1.37 CenturyTe shares for each Embarq share they The deal included CenturyTel assuming $5.8 billion in Embara debt. The two brands will be converted graduallhto CenturyLink, a process expected to concludd later this year.
“The completion of this merger is a significant event forour customers, communities, investors and employees,” CEO Glen Post III, who had been head of said in the release. “CenturyLink has the advancedf networks, the people and the financialp stability to deliver the reliable and innovativwe services that our customers wantand need. We look forwarx to this exciting new chapter inour company’s history.” CenturyLinlk will keep “a significant presence” in the Overland Park though that location wasn’t among the regional operating headquarterz listed: Las Vegas; Wentzville, Mo.; Orlando, Fla.; Wake N.C.; and La Crosse, Wis.
Embarq now employs abougt 2,800 in the area, down from 4,500 when it spun off from S) in 2006. That drop reflects the sale of Embarq’s logisticds unit earlier this year and continual job cuts as the company has attemptedf to keep a lid on costs in anindustryy that’s losing core customers to mobile The recession has accelerated that and observers say that could mean deepet and faster cuts than originally anticipated as the companies By joining, the rural phone companies expect to save abougt $400 million a year in operating and capital expensesa by 2011. They expect combined operatint cash flow of morethan $4.2 billionh and free cash flow of about $1.9 billion.
CenturyTelk expects to continue its current annual dividendof $2.80 a The combination is expectee to add to free cash flow per share in 2010. Sharees continue to trade under CenturyTel’s ticker Embarq CEO Tom Gerke will servre as executive vice chairman of the CenturyLink boars and oversee regulatory and governmentall relations andhuman resources. Embarq ranks No. 3 on the Kansass City BusinessJournal ’s list of area public companies.