MCI u-turns on Qwest to favour Verizon

After declaring a revised merger bid from Qwest Communications superior on April 21, MCI has now announced that it would be more likely to accept a revised offer from Verizon superior due to pressure exerted by its business customers.

In making Monday’s announcement, MCI said that some of its “most important business customers” have indicated a preference for Verizon over Qwest and that some had indicated they would seek to end their MCI contracts if the Qwest deal were accepted.

MCI also listed in its announcement a number of other factors it is taking into consideration in evaluating the two bids.

Meanwhile, Qwest claims that a survey it conducted shows that a majority of MCI shareholders prefer their bid over Verizon’s.

Verizon‘s new offer was for $26 per share, made up of $5.60 cash and either 0.5743 Verizon shares for each MCI share or $20.40 in value, whichever is greater.

This offer totals $8.45 billion in comparison to a $9.9 billion bid from Qwest, which amounts to $30 per share – $16 in case and 3.373 Qwest shares at a $14 fixed value.