SoftBank of Japan has raised its takeover bid for Sprint Nextel to $21.6 billion, seeking to block a rival bid from Dish Network, Michael J. de la Merced reports in DealBook. Under the revised terms, SoftBank is shifting about $1.5 billion originally intended for Sprint itself to the company’s shareholders; investors can now sell shares at $7.65 each, an increase of nearly 5 percent from the original offer. The revised offer is valued at about $7.48 a share, up nearly 19 percent from the earlier bid, Mr. de la Merced reports. SoftBank would own about 78 percent of Sprint if the deal is approved.
Sprint said it had ended sale talks with Dish, which in April had offered $25.5 billion, or about $7 a share, for all of Sprint. Dish has failed to put forward an acceptable formal bid, Sprint said in a statement. “The new proposal by SoftBank, cobbled together largely over the weekend, is aimed at preserving SoftBank’s biggest gamble: buying control of Sprint to challenge the existing titans of the American cellphone market, AT&T and Verizon Wireless,†Mr. de la Merced writes.
The new offer, which has been approved by a special committee of Sprint’s board, may sway some skeptical investors. Paulson & Company, the hedge fund that is Sprint’s second-largest shareholder, said it would support the new offer. Still, the revised offer would saddle Sprint with more debt, Peter Thal Larsen of Reuters Breakingviews writes. “That matters to the dynamics of the auction. SoftBank has made lower leverage one of the main virtues of its bid.â€
TREADING LIGHTLY IN STATEMENTS ON U.S. SPYING  | After revelations that the National Security Agency is engaged in a surveillance program of Internet users through a system called Prism, the biggest technology companies have responded by denying involvement in the spying apparatus. “Of course, the news â€" as well as the responses â€" raises doubts about who is telling the truth and about how extensive the spying program really may be,†Andrew Ross Sorkin writes in the DealBook column. “But perhaps just as important, the episode also raises questions about how publicly traded companies with hundreds of millions of consumers â€" companies that are regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Trade Commission â€" can, and should, react to news when pressed about involvement in confidential government programs.â€
“Senior executives I spoke with at many of the technology companies cited in the Prism documents said they routinely provided the government with requested data, in some cases months’ worth of e-mail traffic for a certain address,†Mr. Sorkin writes. “So while the nation’s biggest technology companies may not be a part of systematic large-scale spying program, it is clear that they are legally required to play a significant role in funneling data to the government. That leaves them on a tightrope balancing what they can say to their customers and investors while complying with their obligations to keep the government’s secrets.â€
WHEN BROKERS REQUEST A CLEAN SLATE  | As investors increasingly rely on BrokerCheck, the online database of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, to vet financial professionals, brokers and executives “are pursuing every means possible to remove negative information from their records,†Susan Antilla reports in DealBook.
If an investor, for example, “checked the securities industry’s official regulatory database of complaints against brokers for the name of Michele Kief, a Wells Fargo broker in Naples, Fla., it would reveal nine client disputes â€" enough red flags to give a customer pause. But on May 24, a panel of arbitrators for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority granted a request to polish Ms. Kief’s record a bit.â€
ON THE AGENDA Â |Â The Morgan Stanley Financials Conference gets going at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York. The N.F.I.B. small business optimism index for May is out at 7:30 a.m. Data on wholesale inventories in April is out at 10 a.m. Michael B. Mukasey, a former United States attorney general who is now a partner at Debevoise & Plimpton, is on Bloomberg TV at 10:10 a.m. Philippe P. Dauman, the chief executive of Viacom, is on CNBC at 1:20 p.m.
GREEK BANKER REACHES THE TOP  | As Europe prepares to close the books on a cash injection of about 50 billion euros into the four largest banks in Greece, bank governance has become a critical issue, Landon Thomas Jr. writes in The New York Times. “Still, Greece’s overseers from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund may well find that even with increased oversight, changing the freewheeling business culture that long defined the Greek financial system will be easier said than done.†The rapid â€" and, some say, problematic â€" rise of one banker, Michalis G. Sallas, the chairman of Piraeus Bank, exemplifies that culture.
Dole Food Gets Unsolicited Takeover Offer From C.E.O.  | The chief executive of Dole Food, David H. Murdock, made an unsolicited offer on Tuesday to buy the company in a deal that values Dole at almost $1.1 billion. DealBook »
Mobile Companies Crave Dynamic Maps  | Maps that adapt to current conditions have become highly desirable to mobile-oriented companies, helping explain “why Google is deep in negotiations to buy Waze, a social mapping service used by millions of drivers around the world, for more than $1 billion,†Vindu Goel reports in The New York Times. NEW YORK TIMES
Timken Hires Goldman to Evaluate a Split  | After a successful shareholder proposal to split the company’s businesses, Timken has set up a board committee to consider separating its steel business from its other manufacturing operations, The Street reports. THE STREET
Lululemon Chief to Step Down  | The clothing company Lululemon said on Monday that Christine M. Day would step down as chief executive once a successor was named. The stock fell in after-hours trading after the news was announced. ASSOCIATED PRESS
JBS of Brazil in $2.7 Billion Deal  | JBS, already the world’s biggest beef producer, says the acquisition will make it the largest poultry company in the world. DealBook »
Deloitte Buys Assets of a Boutique Bank  | Deloitte says the deal for McColl Partners, an advisory-focused investment bank founded by Hugh L. McColl Jr., will bolster its position as a leading adviser to middle-market transactions. DealBook »
B&G Foods Buys Maker of Pirate’s Booty  |Â
WALL STREET JOURNAL
When Fraud Against Seniors Is Routed Through Banks  | Jessica Silver-Greenberg reports in The New York Times that banks can “profit handsomely by collecting fees while ignoring warnings of potential fraud and, in some instances, enabling dubious merchants to prey on consumers.†Two banks in particular, Zions Bank of Salt Lake City and First Bank of Delaware, have come under scrutiny. NEW YORK TIMES
Nomura Adds 6 Bankers to Its Americas Arm  | Nomura of Japan said on Monday that it had hired several senior bankers to take various posts at its investment bank as the firm continued to expand its presence in the Americas. DealBook »
Lunch With Buffett Sells for $1 Million  | With the $1 million proceeds going to charity, a lunch with Warren E. Buffett sold for less this year than last year, when it raised $3.5 million, The Wall Street Journal reports. WALL STREET JOURNAL
Banks Would Increase Salaries to Offset European Bonus Caps, Survey Finds  |Â
BLOOMBERG NEWS
Accepting Fine Wine as Collateral  | Goldman Sachs accepted almost 15,000 bottles of fine wine as loan collateral from a former executive, Bloomberg News reports. BLOOMBERG NEWS
HGGC Strikes Deal for MyWebGrocer  | HGGC, a middle-market private equity firm formerly known as Huntsman Gay Global Capital, has taken control of MyWebGrocer, a 14-year-old company that provides Web and digital marketing services for brick-and-mortar grocers like Kroger and Ralphs. DealBook »
Booz Allen’s Role in N.S.A. Case Puts Spotlight on Carlyle  | The controversy over Edward J. Snowden and his leaks about confidential surveillance programs at the National Security Agency, where he worked on assignment, has brought some attention to Booz Allen Hamilton’s majority owner, the Carlyle Group. DealBook »
Booz Allen Exemplifies Washington’s Economic Boom  | Few government contractors are as successful as Booz Allen Hamilton, Catherine Rampell writes on the Economix blog. NEW YORK TIMES
Scaramucci Looks to Open a Hangout for the Finance Set  | Anthony Scaramucci of SkyBridge Capital, along with two business partners, is looking to “open a Manhattan eatery catering to hedge fund and private equity professionals,†Bloomberg News reports. BLOOMBERG NEWS
Hedge Funds Build Positions in Severn Trent  | Reuters reports: “Two U.S. hedge fund giants have placed bold bets to profit from an attempted takeover of British water company Severn Trent that now hangs in the balance with a consortium threatening to walk away after three spurned bids.†REUTERS
Coty Prepares to Go Public  | Coty is set to hold its initial public offering on Wednesday, with shares trading on Thursday. “Demand for the $1 billion initial public offering is expected to be strong, bankers said, with investors eager for a big consumer deal,†Reuters reports. REUTERS
SageCloud, a Data Storage Company, Raises $10 Million  | SageCloud, a start-up that offers “cold storage†technology for data that is accessed infrequently, raised a $10 million financing round led by Braemar Energy Ventures, the company plans to announce on Tuesday. Matrix Partners, an existing investor, joined in the latest round. SAGECLOUD
An Abbreviated Profile of Dorsey  | Jack Dorsey, the entrepreneur behind Twitter and Square, is fascinated “by his inventions’ unanticipated uses,†Vanity Fair reports. “Square, Dorsey has discovered, has become popular with doctors who make house calls.†VANITY FAIR
Obama Names Aide as Chief Economic Adviser  | The New York Times reports: “The Council of Economic Advisers will have a prominent voice in White House discussions after President Obama named his longtime adviser Jason Furman as chairman of the panel on Monday.†NEW YORK TIMES
German Court to Weigh E.C.B.’s Bond Buying  | “Two longtime friends will appear before Germany’s highest court on Tuesday to argue opposite sides of a fateful question: What if the promise that holds the euro zone together is unconstitutional?†Jack Ewing writes in The New York Times. NEW YORK TIMES
Consumer Agency Finds a Mixed Record on Overdraft Charges  | The Washington Post reports: “Americans are encountering a wide variation of overdraft charges on debit card purchases and ATM withdrawals because of a patchwork of policies at the nation’s biggest banks, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said in a report to be released Tuesday.†WASHINGTON POST
Want to Commit Insider Trading? Here’s How Not to Do It  | A person in Thailand, who has been accused of insider trading related to Smithfield Foods, used quite a few techniques that were bound to attract the attention of regulators, Peter J. Henning writes in the White Collar Watch column. DealBook »
Bank of America Executive Raises Possibility of a Countrywide Bankruptcy  | “One of the options that was available to us and continues to be available to us was to put Countrywide into bankruptcy,†Terrence Laughlin, the chief risk officer of Bank of America, said at a hearing on Monday. REUTERS
Exide, a Big Maker of Car Batteries, Files for Bankruptcy  | The battery maker will seek to repair its finances amid rising costs for materials and the shutdown of an important operation. DealBook »
Lawsuit by Saab’s Parent Against G.M. Is Dismissed  |Â
REUTERS
