By Sruthi Ramakrishnan and Vishal Krishnan
Dec 12 (Reuters) - Clearwire Corp investor Crest Financial
filed a lawsuit against the company and majority stakeholder
Sprint Nextel Corp in a bid to prevent a potential deal
between the wireless providers.
Sprint is in talks with Intel Corp and Comcast Corp to buy
out their stakes in Clearwire, Reuters reported on Tuesday
quoting sources. Sprint currently holds 50.45 percent of
Clearwire shares.
Crest Financial, which owns a 6.62 percent stake in
Clearwire, said in its suit that Clearwire abetted its fiduciary
duties by allowing Sprint to "extract the value of Clearwire's
high-speed, broadband spectrum to the detriment of Clearwire's
minority shareholders."
The lawsuit, filed in the Delaware Court of Chancery,
requested expedited consideration of the complaint by May 2013.
Both Sprint and Clearwire declined to comment.
Crest Financial said it was seeking injunctive relief
against "Sprint's pending merger with Softbank Corp and against
Sprint's interference with Clearwire's previously announced
plans to raise funds and build out its network".
Crest Financial also intends to petition the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) to deny the Sprint-Softbank
merger under its current structure, it said in a statement.
Sprint last month asked the FCC for approval of its
agreement to sell 70 percent of the company to Japan's Softbank.
Some minority Clearwire shareholders have publicly expressed
concerns over a potential deal with Sprint, suggesting that
Clearwire should look at other options.
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