Dish Emerges As LightSquared “Stalking Horse” Bidder

Charlie Ergen’s pursuit of wireless broadband spectrum kicked up a notch. Dish Network emerged as a “stalking horse” bidder for LightSquared LP, a bankrupt broadband service provider headed by hedge fund guru Philip Falcone.

As a stalking horse bidder, Dish’s offer would serve as the base price in a future official auction of the assets. That would force Falcone to come up with an equal or better bid to retain the company. Through a Dish wholly-owned subsidiary called L-Band Acquisition, Ergen bid $2.22 billion for LightSquared’s assets, mainly a swath of 46 Megahertz L-Band MSS wireless spectrum. Dish chairman Charlie Ergen made a $2 billion offer for LightSquared’s assets in May. The latest offer is only for LightSquared LP, which holds the wireless assets. LightSquared Inc., headed by Falcone, owns about 96% of LightSquared LP’s equity.