German Company To Buy SunCom for $1.6B

Deutsche Telekom AG, Europe's biggest telecommunications company, said Monday it will spend $1.6 billion in cash to buy SunCom Wireless Holdings Inc., a Southeastern cellular provider and one of the largest local employers.

The deal allows the German-based giant to expand the signal of its T-Mobile brand through the Carolinas, Tennessee, Georgia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands without building an expensive network of towers. The buyout also includes SunCom's roughly 1,900 employees, about 600 of whom work in Charleston, most of them at a service center on Daniel Island, one of two such facilities run by the Pennsylvania-based company. Deutsche Telekom said Monday that it did not plan any significant changes to SunCom staffing. "We expect this agreement will add a talented group of employees in Charleston, the Carolinas and elsewhere," said Peter Dobrow, a T-Mobile spokesman.

Founded in 1997, SunCom has long been a local technology powerhouse. The company moved into its $14 million regional headquarters on Daniel Island in 2002. Over time, SunCom steadily increased its number of customers to 1.1 million last year, including 373,000 South Carolina subscribers. However, the mobile outfit posted a loss in four of the last five years, hemorrhaging $592 million.

Deutsche Telekom said it will also assume $800 million of debt in the deal. Under the terms approved by the boards of both companies, holders of SunCom stock will receive $27 a share in cash, a 23 percent premium over Friday's closing price.

SunCom said that Highland Capital Management LP and Pardus Capital Management, which together own more than 50 percent of SunCom's issued common stock, have signaled their intent to vote in favor of the deal. The deal is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to close by the end of the year.

Editors Note: SunCom has a major corprate presence on Daniel Island in the Charleston Digital Corridor's Cainhoy District employing approximately 600 people.