SoftBank Raises Sprint Bid

Though SoftBank had said it would not alter its original bid to buy Sprint Nextel Corporation, SoftBank has raised its offer for Sprint. Essentially, the offer funnels more cash to shareholders, and less to Sprint in the form of additional capital.

Sprint’s Special Committee and Board of Directors have unanimously approved an amended merger agreement and again have unanimously recommended to stockholders to vote for the revised SoftBank transaction.

Under the amended Merger Agreement, SoftBank will pay an additional $4.5 billion of cash to Sprint stockholders at closing, bringing the total cash consideration available to Sprint stockholders to $16.64 billion.

The cash available to stockholders has increased by $1.48 per share, from $4.02 to $5.50, based on the June 7, 2013 share count.

Sprint also says it has ended talks with Dish Network about that firm's rival bid for Sprint. Perhaps significantly, one significant shareholder Paulson, now seems willing to vote for the sale of Sprint to SoftBank. That could tip the votes in favor of the SoftBank bid. 

But expect another, and higher, bid from Dish Network. Though T-Mobile USA offers a fallback position, Dish Network seems to believe Sprint, with its Clearwire spectrum assets, are a better fit.

And Dish is highly motivated. The billions worth of valuation for its Long Term Evolution spectrum will fall dramatically if it cannot be used as part of a viable operating network, with significant market share.