Qwest boosts offer for MCI

DENVER — Qwest Communications submitted another higher offer for MCI Inc. Thursday, increasing its cash-and-stock bid to $9.74 billion, about 30 percent higher than the buyout deal that MCI has accepted from Verizon Communications Inc.

Qwest's latest bid of $30 a share injects fresh uncertainty into a deal in which MCI directors — who have twice embraced Verizon over Qwest — could now be forced to accept a far higher offer.

The Qwest bid consists of $16 a share in cash — about $2.50 higher than the previous offer — using $800 million in equity commitments from MCI shareholders, Qwest CEO and Chairman Dick Notebaert said in a statement.

The remaining $14 would be paid in Qwest stock, based on an exchange ratio of 3.373 Qwest shares per MCI share. A guarantee to protect Qwest's stock price remained in place.

It also includes an additional $1 billion in committed financing to ease concerns about whether the combined company would have the financial resources to compete, Notebaert said in a letter to MCI's board.

The latest bid, described as Qwest's "best and final," will be withdrawn if it is not declared superior and Verizon is not notified by 3 p.m. EDT on Saturday, he said.

"We are confident that this revised proposal fulfills the MCI board's description on April 5 of an offer it was prepared to find a superior proposal," Notebaert said.

The board for MCI, based in Ashburn, Va., two weeks ago accepted a $7.5 billion cash-and-stock offer from Verizon, valued at $23.10 per share, up from $20.75 under the original agreement those companies reached in mid-February.

MCI spokesman Peter Lucht said the company would review the revised Qwest offer. "We've received the latest revised offer from Qwest, and our board will review it carefully as it has all previous offers," he said.

In a statement, Verizon said, "As we move through the proxy process, we will continue to assess the situation and intend to take the necessary steps at the appropriate time to secure shareholder approval and complete our pending transaction."

Verizon and Denver-based Qwest Communications International Inc., two of the nation's biggest telephone companies, have been battling for more than two months to win MCI and its national fiber-optic network and lucrative roster of government and corporate clients.