Dish makes unsolicited, competing bid for Clearwire

Dish Network Corp. submitted an unsolicited bid to purchase Clearwire Corp. at $3.30 US per share, higher than Sprint Nextel Corp.'s offer of $2.97 US per share, Clearwire said. Sprint, which in October said it would be acquired by Japanese mobile carrier Softbank Corp., said in a December release that it intended to purchase its remaining 50 per cent stake in Clearwire for $2.2 billion US. “Clearwire's ability to enter into strategic transactions is significantly limited by its current contractual arrangements, including the Sprint Agreement and its existing Equityholders' Agreement,” Clearwire said in a release Tuesday. The company said it will “engage with DISH to discuss, negotiate and/or provide information in connection with the DISH Proposal” and that the company has not made any decision to change course on the Sprint transaction. Clearwire said Dish, based in Meridian, Colo., had previously expressed interest acquiring Clearwire's spectrum assets but the Clearwire board had decided that the Sprint “transaction was, for a number of reasons, a more-attractive alternative” for the companies' shareholders. “The DISH Proposal is only a preliminary indication of interest and is subject to numerous, material uncertainties and conditions, including the negotiation of multiple contractual arrangements being requested by DISH (some of which, as currently proposed, may not be permitted under the terms of Clearwire's current legal and contractual obligations). It is also subject to regulatory approval,” the release said. It added that Sprint “has reviewed the DISH Proposal and believes that it is illusory, inferior to the Sprint transaction and not viable because it cannot be implemented in light of Clearwire's current legal and contractual obligations.” Sprint, based in Overland Park, Kansas, said it intends to use Clearwire’s 2500 MHz spectrum as the frequency is migrated to LTE. Clearwire is based in Bellevue, Wash.

Dish makes unsolicited, competing bid for Clearwire

Brief | January 9, 2013

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