It's Official: CenturyLink Closes $34B Level 3 Acquisition

Telecom provider CenturyLink is now the proud owner of Level 3 Communications.

Combined, the new company will form the second largest domestic communications provider serving global enterprise customers. CenturyLink said 75 percent of its core revenue will be generated from business customers, with nearly two-thirds of its revenue coming from strategic services.

Via the terms of the deal, CenturyLink shareholders now own approximately 51 percent and former Level 3 stockholders now own approximately 49 percent of the newly combined company. The new company has an estimated pro forma revenue of $24 billion, excluding revenue related to CenturyLink's co-location business sale and including estimated divestitures.

[Related: CenturyLink Gets FCC Approval To Buy Level 3, Partners 'Anxious' About Possible Channel Changes]

The two telecoms said the new company will be able to better compete with AT&T and Verizon by offering a broader, more innovative product portfolio of network solutions and advanced IT services to enterprise, small business, government, wholesale and consumer customers. At the same time, the company will continue to invest in faster broadband infrastructure.

Together with Level 3, CenturyLink’s network will connect more than 350 metropolitan areas with more than 100,000 fiber-lit, on-net buildings, including 10,000 buildings in EMEA and Latin America.

’CenturyLink is now poised to offer an expanded, robust portfolio of communications solutions focused on our customers’ networking and IT services needs,’ said Glen Post, CenturyLink’s CEO, in a statement. ’Our customers, from individual consumers to global enterprises, will benefit from our expanded, innovative network solutions, our complementary managed services and our highly talented workforce.’

Level 3 CEO Jeff Storey is slated to take over as CEO for the combined company following Post's retirement on Jan. 1, 2019.

CenturyLink announced its intent to buy Level 3 in October 2016, and the U.S. Department of Justice cleared the deal in September 2017.

The Federal Communications Commission, which gave its go-ahead for the deal Monday, required that the combined company sell off Level 3 network assets in three metro areas -- Albuquerque, N.M; Boise, Idaho; and Tucson, Ariz. The new company also must divest 24 strands of dark fiber connecting 30 specified city-pairs across the country in the form of an Indefeasible Right of Use contract, according to the FCC.

The new CenturyLink will retain its headquarters in Monroe, La., and will keep a strong presence around Level 3's headquarters in Broomfield, Colo, and the Denver area, the companies said.

CenturyLink is expected to report its third-quarter 2017 earnings Wednesday after market close.