KDD Co., the nation's largest international telecommunications carrier, and Teleway Japan Corp., a domestic long-distance carrier, Tuesday announced that they will postpone their expected merger date by two months to Dec. 1, saying that they still need more time to negotiate details.
Under the current schedule, it would be impossible to reach agreement by the annual general shareholders' meeting in June, the two firms said. While some speculate that differences between KDD and Teleway's main shareholder, Toyota Motor Corp., will remain over a merger ratio, some observers are becoming skeptical that they will be able to actually merge into one company.
According to some sources, KDD believes one KDD share should be exchanged for more than three Teleway shares, while Toyota is proposing that less than three Teleway shares should equal one KDD share, which would enable the automaker to have a major stake in the new company.