Dish Network offering to buy Sprint in $25.5B deal

Says bid is superior to SoftBank's proposal

4/15/2013

NEW YORK  — Dish Network is offering to buy Sprint Nextel Corp. in a cash-and-stock deal it values at $25.5 billion, saying its bid is superior to that of Japanese phone company SoftBank.

Sprint’s stock jumped in premarket trading today.

Dish, an Englewood, Colo. satellite television company, said that its transaction includes $17.3 billion in cash and $8.2 billion in stock.

Sprint stockholders would receive $7 per share, which is a 13 percent premium to its Friday closing price of $6.22. This includes $4.76 per share in cash and 0.05953 Dish shares per Sprint share.

Softbank is seeking approval from U.S. authorities for its $20 billion purchase of a 70 percent stake in Sprint Nextel Corp. that would be Japan’s biggest foreign acquisition ever.

Dish Network Corp. said that its offer is a 13 percent premium to the existing SoftBank proposal.