BERLIN, April 22 (Reuters) - Deutsche Telekom shares fell 1.5% on Wednesday on reports of potential merger talks between the German telecoms conglomerate and U.S.-based T-Mobile US, which would be the largest
ever public merger if it goes ahead.
Details of the early stage talks were confirmed to Reuters by two sources familiar with the matter on Wednesday. Telekom, which already holds a majority 53% stake in T-Mobile, did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday morning.
Bloomberg first reported the potential deal.
Any combination, which would need buy-in from Germany, which is Deutsche Telekom's single biggest shareholder, would create the world's biggest wireless operator by market capitalization, with operations spanning the United States and Europe.
T-Mobile's market value is about $218 billion, while Deutsche Telekom has a valuation of about $166 billion.
While the discussions are at a preliminary stage, the proposed idea is for a new holding company that would make a stock bid for both companies, owned by existing investors, and then list in the U.S. and Europe, Bloomberg said.
The German stake is roughly split between the government and state-lender KfW, whose stake could be diluted in a merged entity.
The deal would create a giant firm with potentially greater liquidity, which could also be useful for future dealmaking, according to a person familiar with the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity because the matter is private.
T-Mobile's stock has lost a quarter of its value in the last year, while Deutsche Telekom's shares have lost 10%.
(Reporting by Thomas Seythal in Berlin, Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm and Elvira Polina in Milan; Editing by Miranda Murray, Adam Jourdan Editing by Louise Heavens and Louise Heavens)
