Ina Fried

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SoftBank Gives Sprint Permission to Dish to Dish

SoftBank, which is in the process of trying to acquire Sprint, gave the U.S. carrier permission to hold deeper talks with Dish Network, which also wants to buy Sprint.

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The waiver allows Sprint to share certain details with Dish in order that Dish might make a formal bid. Previously, Sprint only had permission to get more information from Dish on its bid.

Both Dish and SoftBank say theirs is the best offer for Sprint. Sprint’s board has recommended approval of the SoftBank offer at a shareholder meeting next month. However, a special committee of Sprint directors is currently evaluating the Dish proposal to see if it might lead to a higher bid.

“We continue to believe that our agreed transaction, which we plan to close in approximately six weeks, creates substantially greater value and provides far greater certainty for Sprint shareholders,” SoftBank Holdings president Ron Fisher said in a statement on Monday. “We are providing this waiver because we are confident in the value of our transaction, and to ensure that Sprint and Softbank can move quickly and with no risk of delay or confusion, towards implementing our detailed investment plans.”

SoftBank said it hopes the waiver will allow the Sprint directors to promptly evaluate Dish’s offer and to complete the SoftBank deal as scheduled by July 1.

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