SoftBank will not raise its $20.1 billion bid...
SoftBank will not raise its $20.1 billion bid for 70 percent ownership of Sprint Nextel despite a competing bid from Dish Network, said President Masayoshi Son Tuesday. There’s also no need for Sprint to increase its bid for Clearwire, he…
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said. Dish’s $25.5 billion bid for 68 percent ownership of Sprint is “incomplete and illusory,” and its claims that its bid offers Sprint shareholders more value are wrong, Son said during a news conference. A Dish takeover of Sprint may not happen until mid-2014, while SoftBank is anticipating it could close its purchase July 1, Son said. U.S. regulators’ reviews of SoftBank’s bid are proceeding smoothly, he said, also confirming earlier reports that SoftBank had committed not to use telecom equipment manufactured by Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE on the Sprint network. Dish’s bid, on the other hand, would be delayed because the FCC would need to “take a deep look” at the spectrum Dish holds and compare it with Sprint’s spectrum holdings, Son said. He said he plans to travel to the U.S. in May, in advance of a tentatively set June 12 shareholder vote on the deal, to win shareholders’ support (http://bit.ly/15Xe95J). Dish remains “confident that the Sprint Board will share our view that the DISH proposal is superior by offering Sprint shareholders greater value with a higher price and more cash,” a spokesman said. A combined Dish and Sprint would benefit from opportunities for growth that aren’t in SoftBank’s bid, and Dish will continue to work with the Sprint board’s special committee looking into its bid, the spokesman said. Despite what Son said during the news conference, there’s still a “decent prospect” that SoftBank will raise its bid for Sprint, and that Sprint will raise its bid for Clearwire, said New Street Research analyst Jonathan Chaplin in an email to investors. Son’s presentation makes it easier for Sprint’s special committee to choose SoftBank’s bid over Dish’s, but it’s “by no means clear that they will,” Chaplin said. If Dish makes a firm bid for Sprint, it will be challenging to win shareholder approval for SoftBank’s current bid -- SoftBank may still need to improve its offer, he said. It’s “highly unlikely” that Dish will end up with Sprint, it’s “just a matter of how much Softbank has to pay in order to win,” Chaplin said.