CenturyLink to Buy Savvis for $2.5 Billion in Cash, Stock

CenturyLink, the Louisiana-based fixed-line phone and Internet company that just completed its acquisition of Qwest, agreed to buy Savvis for $2.5 billion to add services that let business customers store and access data and applications online.

Savvis stockholders will receive $40 a share, consisting of $30 in cash and about $10 in CenturyLink shares, the companies said today in a statement. That’s 11 percent more than Savvis’s closing price April 26. CenturyLink will also assume about $700 million of debt. The purchase lets CenturyLink Chief Executive Officer Glen Post add so-called cloud-computing services as he seeks to offset declining home-phone demand and challenge larger rivals such as Verizon Communications Inc. Verizon agreed in January to buy Savvis competitor Terremark Worldwide Inc. for $1.4 billion.