Andre Yoskowitz
17 Dec 2012 22:14
Last week, Sprint offered $2.1 billion to buy the rest of Clearwire that it does not own. The carrier is the current majority owner of the company.
After shareholders fought for a higher price, Sprint decided to up its bid from $2.90 per share to $2.97 per share, equaling $2.2 billion.
Additionally, the deal gives Clearwire an "enterprise value of approximately $10 billion, including net debt and spectrum lease obligations of $5.5 billion."
Sprint will use the deal to strengthen their mobile broadband network and remain competitive against rivals AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile USA.
Adds CEO Dan Hesse: "Today's transaction marks yet another significant step in Sprint's improved competitive position and ability to offer customers better products, more choices and better services. Sprint is uniquely positioned to maximize the value of Clearwire's spectrum and efficiently deploy it to increase Sprint's network capacity. We believe this transaction, particularly when leveraged with our SoftBank relationship, is further validation of our strategy and allows Sprint to control its network destiny."