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Sprint is at least wiling to consider a proposal that Dish Network made recently to acquire its business.
Sprint today announced that it has formed a “special committee” made up of several of its board members, including Larry Glasscock, who will serve as the committee’s chairman. The committee’s charge is simple: to review the deal offered last week by Dish to determine if it’s superior to the one already brought by Japan-based Softbank.
Last October, Japan-based Softbank announced that it would invest $20.1 billion into Sprint. A large portion of that — $12.1 billion — will be used to acquire 70 percent of Sprint’s shares. The remaining $8 billion will be an investment into Sprint to help it grow.
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Although that deal seemed acceptable to both sides, Dish last week threw a wrench in those plans with an unsolicited $25.5 billion merger proposal for Sprint Nextel. Dish argues that it’s a superior proposal to the one offered by SoftBank, leading Sprint to consider whether it really is.
Not surprisingly, SoftBank thinks it’s still in a position of prominence, saying that it’s confident it will be able “to consummate the transaction on July 1, 2013.”
Sprint didn’t say when its review of the Dish deal will be completed. The company has also enlisted the help of BofA Merrill Lynch as financial adviser and law firm Shearman & Sterling as legal counsel.
