Sprint isn’t sweating Dish Network’s offer to buy Clearwire for $3.30 per share, an 11 percent increase over its $2.97 offer, and doesn’t foresee needing to up its bid in acquiring a 100 percent stake in the WiMAX provider.
According to a Reuters report, three sources close to the deal cite the numerous conditions of Dish’s offer as reasons why Sprint’s deal is the better bargain for the struggling Clearwire.
Under the stipulations of Dish’s offer, Clearwire would sell 24 percent of its spectrum holdings to Dish for $2.2 billion, as well as enter a commercial agreement to help Dish with construction, operation, maintenance and management of a wireless network.
Clearwire stock rose 8 percent on news of Dish’s offer.
While the Sprint and Dish financial standoff unfolds, Crest Financial Limited, an 8 percent shareholder in Clearwire, is busy with legal action. The firm has filed an FCC petition for reconsideration of Sprint’s reacquisition of a controlling stake in Clearwire last year, which subsequently affects Sprint’s current offer to buy Clearwire, as well as Softbank’s bid to acquire a 70 percent stake in Sprint. Crest has also sued Clearwire in the Court of Chancery in Delaware in an attempt to stop the deal altogether.