U.S. FCC approves CenturyLink acquisition of Level 3 -source
Took exactly one year from announcement to FCC approval. Some interesting commentary in this quick release related to mergers, acquisitions, AT&T etc...expect a decision any day now on Fibertower...
WASHINGTON, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Telecommunications provider CenturyLink Inc won U.S. anti-trust approval from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission for its purchase of Level 3 Communications Inc, three people briefed on the matter said on Monday.
CenturyLink said last year it would buy Level 3 in a deal valued at about $24 billion. It is seeking to expand its reach in the business communications market and compete with rivals such as AT&T Inc and Verizon Communications Inc.
The deal, the three people said, could effectively make it easier for other large transactions to win approval.
The U.S. Justice Department approved the tie-up this month with some conditions including some divestitures. It was not immediately clear what conditions the FCC imposed, but it does include some divestitures.
The three people said the Republican majority decision could rewrite the standard by which the FCC reviews future mergers -- a shift that could make it easier for other large media and telecommunications mergers to win approval.
The FCC is currently considering whether to approve Sinclair Broadcast Group’s proposed $3.9 billion acquisition of Tribune Media Co that has drawn fire from across the political spectrum.
The FCC has traditionally employed a balancing test weighing potential public interest harms against any potential public interest benefits and applicants bear the burden of proof to win approval.
The three people briefed on the matter said the FCC approval of the Level 3 CenturyLink deal offered a more limited standard of review that would use "narrowly tailored transaction-specific conditions to remedy" harms.
FCC spokesman Neil Grace declined to comment.
Republicans on the commission have pushed to halt the practice of demanding conditions or concessions from companies seeking to merge that are not directly related to the transaction.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, who was in the minority during the Obama administration, last year criticized “how badly broken the current merger review process has become at the FCC — how rife it is with fact-free, dilatory, politically motivated, non-transparent decision-making." (Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Susan Thomas)
