13D Filing: Corvex Capital and Centurylink Inc (CTL)

This Amendment No. 4 supplements the information set forth in the Schedule 13D filed by Corvex Management LP and Keith Meister with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on May 8, 2017, as previously amended (the “Schedule 13D”), relating to the shares of common stock, par value $1.00 per share (the “Shares”), of CenturyLink, Inc., a Louisiana corporation (the “Issuer”). Capitalized terms used but not defined herein shall have the meanings ascribed to them in the Schedule 13D.

The information set forth in response to each separate Item below shall be deemed to be a response to all Items where such information is relevant. The Schedule 13D is supplementally amended as follows.

The Reporting Persons used the working capital of the Corvex Funds to purchase the Shares reported herein and to acquire the call options referenced in Item 5. The total purchase price for the Shares reported herein was approximately $640,403,084, and the purchase price to acquire such call options was approximately $9,127,350.

Various of the Reporting Persons may effect purchases of securities through margin accounts maintained for the Corvex Funds with brokers, which extend margin credit as and when required to open or carry positions in their margin accounts, subject to applicable federal margin regulations, stock exchange rules and such firms’ credit policies. Positions in Shares may be held in margin accounts and may be pledged as collateral security for the repayment of debit balances in such accounts.

On November 1, 2017, the Issuer’s acquisition of Level 3 Communications, Inc. (“Level 3”) closed and pursuant to the terms of the Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated October 31, 2016, by and among the Issuer, Wildcat Merger Sub I LLC, WWG Merger Sub LLC and Level 3, at the effective time of the acquisition each issued and outstanding share of Level 3 common stock was converted into 1.4286 Shares and the right to receive $26.50 in cash.  As a result of the Shares issued pursuant to the acquisition of Level 3, the Reporting Persons no longer beneficially own more than 5% of the outstanding Shares.

The Reporting Persons intend to review their investment in the Issuer on a continuing basis and may from time to time and at any time in the future depending on various factors, including, without limitation, the Issuer’s financial position and strategic direction, actions taken by the Board, price levels of the Shares, other investment opportunities available to the Reporting Persons, conditions in the securities market and general economic and industry conditions, take such actions with respect to their investments in the Issuer as they deem appropriate.  These actions may include, without limitation:  (i) acquiring additional Shares and/or other equity, debt, notes, other securities, or derivative or other instruments that are convertible into Shares, or are based upon or relate to the value of the Shares or the Issuer (collectively, “Securities”) in the open market or otherwise; (ii) disposing of any or all of their Securities in the open market or otherwise; (iii) engaging in any hedging or similar transactions with respect to the Securities; or (iv) proposing or considering one or more of the actions described in subsections (a) through (j) of Item 4 of Schedule 13D.

(a)-(b) Corvex may be deemed to be the beneficial owner of 25,849,476 Shares and 15,000,000 Shares underlying the call options referenced below in this Item 5, which collectively represent approximately 3.8% of the Issuer’s outstanding Shares. By virtue of his position as control person of the general partner of Corvex, Mr. Meister may be considered to beneficially own such Shares. The Reporting Persons may be deemed to have sole power to vote and sole power to dispose of 40,849,476 Shares.

The percentage calculated in the immediately foregoing paragraph is calculated based on a total of 549,609,275 Shares outstanding as of July 27, 2017, as reported in the Issuer’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on August 7, 2017, plus the approximately 517,300,000 Shares that were issued pursuant to the acquisition of Level 3, as reported in the Issuer’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on November 1, 2017.