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Sprint Mulls Spoiler Takeover Bid for MetroPCS
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USA based Sprint is reportedly considering a counter-bid for MetroPCS to spoil its agreed merger with T-Mobile USA.
Sprint had often been named as a possible suitor for MetroPCS, once it had worked out its own problems with its costly merger with Nextel. However, last weeks announcement that T-Mobile and MetroPCS have agreed to their own merger will have forced Sprint to bring forward any plans it might have been working on.
Citing three people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg News reported that MetroPCS is now in the early stages of evaluating its options for a counter offer.
Sprint is crunching the numbers and holding talks with its advisers to weigh the feasibility of a higher offer, said the sources. A decision is expected to be taken about launching a counter bid by the end of this week.
Sprint Nextel was reported to have walked away from an US$8 billion takeover bid for MetroPCS earlier this year, but its rising shareprice now makes an all-shares offer easier to afford..
If MetroPCS were to agree to a Sprint offer, it will need to make a payment of US$150 million to T-Mobile as a breakup fee.
Sprint may also decide though to wait until T-Mobile is listed on the US stock exchange as a consequence of the merger, then launch a takeover bid for the enlarged company. Such a move may be a regulatory problem though as it would leave the USA with three dominant networks, rather than two large and a number of middle-sized networks.
On the web: Bloomberg News
Tags: [t-mobile usa] [sprint] [metropcs] [USA]
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