Dish Network to sell $2.5B in senior notes
Dish Network subsidiary plans to sell $2.5B in senior notes to finance possible Sprint deal
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) -- Dish Network Corp. said Tuesday that one of its subsidiaries plans to sell $2.5 billion of senior notes.
The net proceeds from the offering will be placed into escrow and later used to finance part of the cash portion of the Englewood, Colo.-based satellite broadcaster's proposed acquisition of Sprint Nextel Corp.
If the deal with Sprint doesn't go through before the escrow end date, all of the notes will be redeemed, the company said.
Dish is trying to buy Sprint for $25.5 billion, but Sprint has already reached a deal to sell 70 percent of itself to Japan's Softbank for $20.1 billion.
Wall Street analysts view Dish's bid as superior but risky, as it will result in a combined company with high debt.
In morning trading, Dish shares fell 11 cents to $38.70. Its shares have traded in a 52-week range of $26.12 to $40.95.
