Clearwire today sent a letter to its shareholders regarding Sprint’s take-over offer. Sprint offered to purchase the remaining 49% of Clearwire that it doesn’t already own for $2.2 billion. The offer has met with stern disapproval from several large Clearwire shareholders.
In today’s letter, Clearwire explained that its board evaluated Sprint’s offer thoroughly against various other options and concluded that Sprint’s offer was not only a fair offer, but the best offer the company is likely to receive. Further, the board said it was able to raise Sprint’s initially expected bid of $2.60 per share to $2.97 per share. The board hired an outside firm to evaluate Sprint’s offer, and that firm, too, concluded that Sprint’s offer was a fair one. Clearwire said major shareholders Comcast, Intel, and Brighthouse have all voiced support for Sprint and will vote in favor of its offer. Clearwire pointed out that other options are simply not feasible, nor in the best interest for shareholders. For example, its attempt to attract another wholesale customer never panned out, despite discussions with more than 100 firms. The company doesn’t think a spectrum sale would solve its problems, nor would taking on more debt to help finance further restructuring.
Last, Clearwire says that it would never be able to sell to a company other than Sprint due to Sprint’s controlling stake and unwillingness to sell to a third party. Clearwire urged investors to vote in favor of the deal. Crest Financial and Aurelius Capital have opposed the deal vocally, and Aurelius Capital filed a lawsuit in an attempt to block the deal.
