TELUS completes $539M acquisition of remaining TELUS Digital shares

TELUS Corporation (NYSE: TU) announced the completion of its acquisition of all outstanding shares of TELUS Digital (NYSE: TIXT) (TSX: TIXT) not already owned by the company for $4.50 per share in cash or TELUS common shares. The transaction totaled approximately $539 million and gives TELUS 100% ownership of TELUS Digital.

TELUS Digital shareholders approved the transaction at a special meeting held October 27, following unanimous recommendation from the company's Special Committee of independent directors and Board of Directors. The Supreme Court of British Columbia granted final approval October 29.

Under the arrangement terms, shareholders could elect to receive $4.50 in cash, 0.273 TELUS common shares, or a combination of $2.25 in cash and 0.136 TELUS shares per TELUS Digital share. The majority of shareholders representing 106,755,480 shares elected cash consideration, while shareholders representing 448,976 shares chose TELUS shares and those representing 12,697,517 shares selected the combination option.

TELUS issued 1,849,374 common shares representing less than 1% of outstanding shares and paid approximately $508.97 million in cash as consideration. Prior to closing, TELUS owned 100% of multiple voting shares and approximately 5.4% of subordinate voting shares, representing 92.7% of total voting rights.

The company expects the integration to generate approximately $150 million in annual operational efficiencies through AI-driven automation, business simplification and strategic cross-promotion of services, according to TELUS President and CEO Darren Entwistle.

TELUS Digital subordinate voting shares are expected to be delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange. The company has applied to cease being a reporting issuer under Canadian securities laws and will deregister shares under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

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