Telecom Lead America: Sprint has increased its offer by 14 percent to $3.40 per share to buy 50 percent stake in Clearwire.
Sprint’s previous offer was $2.97 per share.
The new offer would value Clearwire at $10.7 billion.
This increased offer represents a 162 percent premium to Clearwire’s closing share price the day before the Sprint-SoftBank discussions were first confirmed in the marketplace on Oct. 11, 2012 when Clearwire was also speculated to be a part of that transaction.
The offer represents Sprint’s best and final offer.
Sprint says it is uniquely positioned to leverage Clearwire’s 2.5 GHz spectrum assets. Sprint’s Network Vision architecture will allow for better strategic alignment and the full utilization and integration of Clearwire’s complementary 2.5 GHz spectrum assets, while achieving operational efficiencies and improved service for customers as the spectrum and network is migrated to 4G LTE standards.
Clearwire has received commitments from Comcast Corp., Intel Corp and Bright House Networks, who collectively own approximately 26 percent of Clearwire’s shares not affiliated with Sprint, to vote their shares in support of the transaction.
Interestingly, SoftBank, which is looking at a merger with Sprint, is facing tough competition from Dish Networks since the latter offered a better price to the shareholders of Sprint.
On Monday, Sprint said a waiver from SoftBank Corp will permit Sprint to furnish non-public information concerning Sprint to Dish Network and to engage with Dish in discussions and negotiations regarding its proposal made on April 15, 2013.
