Clearwire Shareholder Hires Proxy Firm in Bid to Stop Sprint Deal
Crest Financial said Wednesday that it has hired a proxy solicitation firm to aid in its opposition of Sprint’s plan to acquire the rest of Clearwire.
The Houston-based investment company owns 3.9 percent of Clearwire and has already sued Clearwire and its directors, arguing that they have breached their fiduciary duties in accepting Sprint’s offer.
The deal still requires the approval of shareholders representing a majority of the shares not held by Sprint. In hiring proxy-solicitation firm D. F. King & Co., Crest is signaling its intent to extend its opposition into a full-on proxy fight. Crest also demanded that Clearwire make available its list of shareholders.
“Crest Financial believes that Clearwire’s shareholders will reject Sprint’s unfair offer for Clearwire,” Crest general counsel Dave Schumacher said in a statement. “Crest is determined to do whatever it can to stop Sprint’s efforts to extract for itself the value of Clearwire’s trove of wireless spectrum and to harm minority shareholders and the public interest.”
Satellite TV company Dish Network has made its own bid for Clearwire, which holds a significant amount of spectrum in addition to operating a wholesale wireless network.
