“Sprint Corp. (S) plans to push forward with a bid for T-Mobile US Inc. (TMUS) after meeting with banks last month to make debt arrangements for that offer, people with knowledge of the situation said,” Alex Sherman reports for Bloomberg.
“Sprint Chief Financial Officer Joe Euteneuer and Treasurer Greg Block met with six banks to ensure the lenders would be ready with financing structures when Sprint decides to pursue a takeover, said three of the people, asking not to named because the discussions are private. T-Mobile US has a market value of $23.5 billion,” Sherman reports. “Masayoshi Son, chief executive officer of SoftBank Corp. (9984), which owns about 80 percent of Sprint, is expected to make a formal bid in June or July, one of the people said. While regulators have consistently expressed concerns about a combination of the third- and fourth-largest wireless carriers in the U.S., Son and his advisers are building an argument they hope will convince the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice about the long-term health of the U.S. wireless industry.”
“Sprint wants to pursue a deal while the Justice Department and FCC are also reviewing Comcast Corp.’s acquisition of Time Warner Cable Inc., with the hope that regulators will see both deals as changing the telecommunications industry, three of the people said. The regulators blocked AT&T Inc.’s effort to acquire T-Mobile in 2011,” Sherman reports. “Son’s team believes AT&T was unprepared when it attempted to convince regulators a deal was in the public’s interest in 2011, three of the people said. Sprint is working to ensure it will have a detailed case to put in front of regulators, the people said.”
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