Clearwire Corp plans to notify Sprint Nextel Corp on Thursday
that it will tap another $80 million of financing in April as part
of its deal with the No. 3 U.S. wireless carrier, Reuters reported
Thursday, citing two people close to the matter.
In December, Sprint offered $2.97 per share to buy the rest of
Clearwire that it doesn't own, and provided the wireless broadband
operator up to $800 million in financing that it could draw on in
installments of $80 million over 10 months.
Clearwire didn't tap the financing in January or February as it
said that it was still reviewing a counter offer from satellite TV
provider Dish Network Corp. But Clearwire drew on the money for the
first time in March while still saying it would keep talking to
Dish, Reuters said.
The financing is in the form of debt that will be convertible to
Clearwire shares in the event that its shareholders vote against
Sprint's offer. So every installment that Clearwire accepts would
further weaken its minority shareholders' clout in the future,
Reuters said.
Sprint already owns almost a 51% stake in Clearwire, the report
said.
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