Credit Suisse has bought US tech giant Google’s stake in local WiMAX provider Clearwire for US$66.5m, according to a Dow Jones report.
This sale comes a couple of weeks after Google said that it was looking to sell more than 29 million shares of…
Credit Suisse has bought US tech giant Google’s stake in local WiMAX provider Clearwire for US$66.5m, according to a Dow Jones report.
This sale comes a couple of weeks after Google said that it was looking to sell more than 29 million shares of Clearwire’s class A common stock, representing 6.5% of that class of shares, for US$1.60 a share or a total value of US$47m.
But according to a 5 March SEC filing, the shares were sold for US$2.26 apiece, which still represents a sharp discount on the US$500m Google paid for the Clearwire stake in 2008.
Sprint holds a majority stake in Clearwire. Other shareholders include Bright House Networks, Comcast, Eagle River Holdings, Time Warner Cable, and the former chairman Craig McCaw.
According to a 24 February SEC filing, these investors had the first opportunity to acquire the shares.
At the time, Google did not give any precise reason for the sale, simply saying that it “periodically rebalances its investments based on its goals and its evaluation of market conditions.”
Separately, Clearwire said in its annual report, released on 16 February, that it would need to raise “substantial additional capital” in order to fund its business and meet financial obligations beyond next year.
Credit Suisse analyst Jonathan Chaplin estimated, at the time, that Clearwire requires US$2bn in additional capital and argued that the company could raise most, if not all, of this amount through asset sales and vendor financing.
Credit Suisse, Google and Clearwire were not immediately available for comments before the press deadline.
