CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL) and Level 3 Communications (NYSE: LVLT) have received regulatory clearances in Maryland, Delaware, Hawaii and Washington, D.C., for the companies’ planned merger that was announced in October 2016.The approvals are in addition to the clearances the firms earlier received from the states of Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Nevada, Ohio, Texas, Utah and West Virginia, CenturyLink said Wednesday.
The company agreed to acquire Level 3 in a cash-and-stock transaction worth approximately $34 billion in an effort to form a combined entity that will deliver communications platforms and services to enterprise, government and wholesale clients through a global network that links at least 350 metropolitan areas to approximately 75,000 on-net facilities in urban and rural areas.
Level 3 and CenturyLink secured the additional state clearances a month after shareholders at both companies separately approved the merger.
CenturyLink, which will own 51 percent of the combined company, started to submit applications to federal and state regulatory agencies in December to receive clearances for the transaction.
The companies expect to receive the remaining approvals from federal, state and international regulators ahead of the deal’s intended close by Sept. 30.
