NEW YORK, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Germany's Deutsche Telekom AG has transferred ownership of its 67 percent stake inT-Mobile US to a Dutch holding company from a Germanholding company, fueling speculation it may be looking to sellthe U.S. business.
Deutsche Telekom said on Thursday it made the transfer aspart of a larger internal restructuring to simplify its businessstructure, and that it should not be interpreted as anythingelse.
The move, which was quietly disclosed to U.S. regulators onWednesday, follows reports that Japan's SoftBank Corp is looking to buy No. 4 U.S. mobile operator T-Mobile US tomerge it with Sprint Corp, which 80 percent owned bySoftBank, and that satellite TV provider Dish Corp isalso considering buying T-Mobile.
BTIG analyst Walter Piecyk said in a research note thatDeutsche Telekom could be transferring ownership for tax reasonsrelated to a potential sale of the U.S. asset, which it alreadytried to sell to AT&T Inc in 2011.
"The Netherlands offers favorable tax treatment on assetsales," Piecyk said, noting that Vodafone Group Plc holds its 45 percent stake in Verizon Wireless in theNetherlands and is expected to have a very "tax-efficient"transaction as a result.
But Piecyk noted that a Sprint-T-Mobile merger may beblocked by U.S. regulators worried about the elimination of oneof four national wireless operators.
Deutsche Telekom said in the filing it had transferred thestake to Deutsche Telekom Holding B.V. in the Netherlands fromT-Mobile Global Holding GMbH as part of an internalrestructuring.
The German company said it is also transferring ownership ofHungarian and Czech assets to the Netherlands as part of itsrestructuring.