Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) said holders of more than half of its
outstanding shares opted to receive cash in SoftBank Corp.'s
(9984.TO) deal to become the telecommunications company's majority
holder.
The portion that chose chose the cash option, considered along
with those that didn't indicate any preference and would receive
cash as a result, exceeded the limit of $16.64 billion. As a
result, holders will receive a combination of about $5.65 in cash
and 0.26174408 shares in the new company for each share in Sprint
stock.
Last week SoftBank Corp.'s three-way merger with Sprint and
Clearwire Corp. (CLWR) won final approval from U.S. regulators,
clearing the final hurdles before the transaction closes.
Sprint, the No. 3 U.S. wireless carrier, is selling a 78% stake
to SoftBank for $21.6 billion. The deal provides money for the
carrier to expand its wireless network and make a run at its much
larger competitors, Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc. (T).
Meanwhile, Sprint is acquiring the half of Clearwire that it
doesn't already own in a deal valuing the smaller mobile broadband
provider at about $14 billion.
In addition to the 1.61 billion Sprint shares electing to
receive cash in the Softbank deal, an additional 44% of the shares
outstanding, or about 1.34 billion shares, didn't give a
preference. Just 79.7 million of the shares, or about 3% of the
total outstanding, opted to receive stock in the new company.
The closure of the transactions, expected Wednesday, marks the
end of a long journey that began with SoftBank's agreement with
Sprint in October and a separate deal between Sprint and Clearwire
in December. But Dish Network Corp. (DISH) attempted to disrupt
both transactions by making competing offers and arguing against
the combinations with regulators.
While Dish wasn't ultimately successful in breaking up the
deals, SoftBank was forced to increase its offers. Shareholders
approved the Sprint takeover in late June, while Clearwire
shareholders will vote Monday.
Sprint shares closed Friday at $7.16 and were inactive in recent
premarket trading.
-Thomas Gryta contributed to this article.
Write to Tess Stynes at Tess.Stynes@dowjones.com
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