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Topic: How To Invest

MANITOBA TELECOM SERVICES INC. $35.75 – Toronto symbol MBT

MANITOBA TELECOM SERVICES INC. $35.75 (Toronto symbol MBT; Shares outstanding: 67.5 million; Market cap: $2.4 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 4.8%; www.mts.ca) has agreed to sell its Allstream subsidiary to Accelero Capital Holdings, a private firm controlled by Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris.

In 2004, the company paid $1.6 billion for Allstream, which provides integrated telephone, Internet and other communication services to over 50,000 businesses across Canada.

The sale price is $520 million, which is equal to 22% of Manitoba Telecom’s $2.4-billion market cap. If you disregard closing costs, Manitoba Telecom will receive $405 million. Assuming regulators approve, the company expects to complete the sale in the second half of 2013.

Manitoba Telecom will use the cash to contribute $130 million to its underfunded employees’ pension plan. It will also pay back $70 million of short-term loans it took out to finance recent pension contributions. As well, the company will continue to fund the Allstream pension plans and will contribute $40 million to them when the deal closes.

Selling Allstream will let Manitoba Telecom focus on its main telecom businesses in Manitoba. The company’s smaller size could also make it a more attractive takeover target, particularly now that Ottawa has relaxed foreign ownership limits on telecom firms with less than a 10% market share.

Manitoba Telecom is still a buy.

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