Sprint, WorldCom Stumble Into Crosshairs of Deutsche Telekom

Deutsche Telekom's (DT Quote) timing may work out perfectly.

The big German telecom company is finishing an $8 billion global bond offering just as Sprint (FON Quote) and WorldCom (WCOM Quote) are dissolving their merger agreement, thanks to antitrust concerns in the U.S. and Europe. So Deutsche Telekom will soon find itself flush with cash and freed from the constraints an offering imposes. (Serious merger negotiations during an offering would be considered a material event, which could force a company to make the talks public.)

"Deutsche Telekom is not going to be the same company in six months," says one European mergers and acquisitions banker. When the offering is finished, which is expected to happen next week, "the company is free to have all the [serious] discussions its wants." ...