Clearwire Corp. (CLWR) said a special committee of directors
approved Sprint Nextel Corp.'s (S) raised offer for the wireless
broadband provider and recommended shareholders approve the
deal.
On Tuesday, Sprint boosted its offer for Clearwire by 14%,
giving in to shareholder pressure in hopes of winning over strong
opposition to the acquisition. The new bid of $3.40 a share tops an
initial agreement at $2.97 a share and values Clearwire at $10.7
billion.
Sprint currently owns about 50% of Clearwire, but the terms of
the merger agreement require that it must get the majority of the
minority holders to vote for the deal.
Clearwire shareholders were set to convene Tuesday for what many
believed would be a rejection of Sprint's previous offer. Instead,
that shareholder meeting was postponed until May 31 and the special
committee said it would review the new offer.
Clearwire said Wednesday that the special committee determined
the revised bid, when compared with other potential transactions
available to the company, "is the most favorable potential
transaction to the company's unaffiliated stockholders and that the
terms of the revised offer are advisable, fair to and in the best
interest of such stockholders."
Crest Financial, running a proxy campaign against the Sprint
deal, has been pushing for Clearwire to remain independent and is
suing to block the Sprint deal. It also urged the rejection of the
new offer.
Meanwhile, a battle for Sprint itself continues as a $20.1
billion agreement to sell a 70% stake to Japan's SoftBank Corp.
(9984.TO) was potentially interrupted last month with a surprise
$25.5 billion bid from Dish Network Corp. (DISH).
Clearwire's shares were unchanged premarket at $3.40. The stock
is up 18% so far this year.
-Thomas Gryta contributed to this story.
Write to Ben Fox Rubin at ben.rubin@dowjones.com
05-22-13 0927ET
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