Denmark's TDC to buy Norwegian cable firm Get As for $2.2 billion

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Danish telecom operator TDC has agreed to buy Norwegian cable company Get AS for around 12.5 billion Danish crowns ($2.2 billion) on a cash and debt free basis, trimming this year's dividend payout as a result, it said on Monday.

The purchase will be financed through a combination of senior unsecured EMTN bonds and hybrid bonds, the former state telecom monopoly said in a statement.

The transaction will lead to a reduction in the company's 2014 dividend payout to 2.50 crowns per share from its previous guidance of 3.70 crowns per share, it said.

Shares in TDC were 6.9 percent lower at 0820 BST, underperforming a 0.2 percent fall in Copenhagen's benchmark index.

Shares have fallen around 15 percent since Aug. 7 when it told investors it had lost two local government service tenders, which count as business mobile phone clients, and indicated it would have to offer cheaper broadband services next year.

"They have a lack of areas where they can grow, so now they buy top line growth to ease the pressure. I don't think they can avoid this, if TDC is to exist in the future," Sydbank analyst Morten Imsgard, who has a hold recommendation on the TDC stock, said.

"If there are to be dividends in the future, this is needed, but it costs in the short run," Imsgard said, adding that he regards the price for Get as very high.

At the end of August Get had expected to receive binding offers from TDC and two private equity funds in a sale that could value the company at around 1.4 billion euros (1.1 billion pounds) including debt, sources familiar with the situation told Reuters.

The transaction is subject to competition approval from the Norwegian competition authorities and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year.

TDC competitors include Swedish TeliaSonera, Norwegian Telenor.

(Reporting by Stine Jacobsen, editing by Louise Heavens)