Sprint Closes Clearwire Acquisition, Softbank Completes Sprint Acquisition

From DailyTech: Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) has completed its acquisition by Japan's Softbank Corp. (TYO:9984), just days after Sprint completed its acquisition of Clearwire Corp. (CLWR). The deal -- which gives shareholders $16.6B USD in cash ($7.65 USD per share) and gives Sprint $5B USD -- was finalized after an approval by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and a silent approval by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) who let the deadline to sue to block the acquisition slip by.

Both approvals sound bitter notes for media mogul Charlie Ergen, President, founder, and CEO of DISH Network Corp. (DISH).

The drama regarding the acquisition of America's third largest carrier began last October when Softbank offered $20B USD for a 70 percent stake in Sprint, giving $12.1B USD in cash ($5.25 USD per Sprint Share) to shareholders and the rest to Sprint for capital spending.

The Softbank deal seemed attractive on more levels than just the cash -- Softbank had a history of working with troubled acquisitions, having turned around the struggling Japanese wing of Vodafone Group Plc (LON:VOD), whom it purchased from the UK carrier. That success doubled Softbank's profits and propelled it to third place in the Japanese market. Softbank also had a history of aggressively pursuing coveted handsets, having been the first Japanese carrier to sell Apple, Inc.'s (AAPL) iPhone.

The Softbank deal was approved by shareholders and looked ready for prime time when a shocker arrived.

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