Sprint Said to Plan T-Mobile Bid After Pushing Banks for Funding

Sprint plans to push forward with a bid for T-Mobile US after meeting with banks to make debt arrangements for that offer, people with knowledge of the situation said.

Sprint Chief Financial Officer Joe Euteneuer and Treasurer Greg Block met with six banks to ensure the lenders would be ready with financing structures when Sprint decides to pursue a takeover, said three of the people, asking not to be named because the discussions are private. Masayoshi Son, chief executive officer of SoftBank, which owns about 80 percent of Sprint, is expected to make a formal bid in June or July 2014, one of the people said. While regulators have consistently expressed concerns about a combination of the third- and fourth-largest wireless carriers in the US, Son and his advisers are building an argument they hope will convince the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice about the long-term health of the US wireless industry.