FRANKFURT, Germany-Instead of trying to sell off its U.S.-based VoiceStream Wireless Corp. holdings, analysts said German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom AG may choose an early public offering of its T-Mobile unit to help the company reduce its more than $60 billion debt load.
“[DT] want[s] to avoid reducing the group [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization] growth to negligible levels, which they accept is inevitable if they sell or merge VoiceStream,” Goldman Sachs said in a research note. “From what management said, the preferred route to raising cash from mobile, now seems to be a T-Mobile IPO.”
DT had delayed a public offering of T-Mobile that was planned for this year due to the slowing telecommunications market, and has been rumored to be talking with both AT&T Wireless Services Inc. and Cingular Wireless L.L.C. about a possible sale or merger of VoiceStream in an attempt to meet a $14 billion debt reduction goal for 2003.
