SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - NTT Communications late Tuesday said it has extended its tender offer for Internet backbone and Web hosting provider Verio until midnight EDT on Monday, Aug. 30 - the sixth time the company has extended its offer.
NTT-C, a long-distance and Internet operations subsidiary of Japan's dominant and majority-government-owned carrier Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, originally announced its bid for Verio in May this year. Plans were put on hold in July when the U.S. government's Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS) announced plans to investigate the acquisition after the FBI raised questions over the deal. The FBI was worried that the Japanese government, with its majority interest in NTT, would be able to gain access to information regarding wiretaps conducted on Verio customers and traffic crossing Verio's backbone, according to NTT-C sources. CFIUS had 45 days to investigate the deal and then present its findings to President Bill Clinton with a recommendation on whether to block or clear the deal. CFIUS recommended on Aug. 14 that the deal be cleared, giving Clinton until Aug. 29 to make his decision. With NTT-C's extended offer due to expire one day later, an end to the almost four-month acquisition is expected to be announced on Aug. 31. NTT Communications said that, as of Aug. 21, approximately 88.6% of common stock in Verio it does not already own had been offered and not withdrawn. The Japanese company already owns a 10% slice of Verio.
RELATED LINKS
