Dish Network said on Tuesday that it would not submit a new takeover bid for Sprint Nextel ahead of a deadline imposed by the company and will instead focus on its bid for a stake in the smaller wireless operator Clearwire.
In a statement, Dish said that conditions imposed by Sprint in the wake of a revised $21.6 billion deal with SoftBank of Japan made it impossible to put together a counterbid ahead of an 11:59 p.m. deadline.
Among those requirements â€" which Dish criticized as “extreme deal protections†â€" are a hareholder rights plan that limits outside investors other than SoftBank from owning more than 17 percent of Sprint and a demand that any rival bid have fully committed financing.
“We will consider our options with respect to Sprint, and focus our efforts and resources on completing the Clearwire tender offer,†Dish said in a statement.
