Telus abandons Mobilicity takeover

Article Excerpt

TELUS CORP. $41 (Toronto symbol T; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 618.9 million; Market cap: $25.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.2; Dividend yield: 3.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.telus.com) has dropped its $350-million bid for wireless carrier Mobilicity. The company was more interested in Mobilicity’s wireless frequencies, or spectrum, than its 165,000 wireless customers (Telus has 7.8 million wireless subscribers across Canada). However, Ottawa opposed the deal. As well, if Telus had refused to drop the takeover, Ottawa would probably have blocked it from bidding on new spectrum at an auction planned for April 2015. Telus is a buy. buy…