Kirkland, King & Spalding net $14bn wi-fi JV
Kirkland & Ellis and King & Spalding have bagged lead roles advising on a $14.5bn (£7.3bn) joint venture between ailing telecoms giant Sprint Nextel and Clearwire Corporation to create a high-speed wireless network dubbed WiMax, writes The American Lawyer. Under the terms of the deal, Clearwire - which was founded by cell phone and wireless pioneer Craig McCaw in 2003 - will combine its wireless broadband network with that of Kansas-based Sprint Nextel. The long-term aim is to create a national network that can be accessed from laptops and mobile phones.
May 08, 2008 at 07:11 AM
2 minute read
Kirkland & Ellis and King & Spalding have bagged lead roles advising on a $14.5bn (£7.3bn) joint venture between telecoms giant Sprint Nextel and Clearwire Corporation to create a high-speed wireless network dubbed WiMax, writes The American Lawyer.
Under the terms of the deal, Clearwire – which was founded by cell phone and wireless pioneer Craig McCaw in 2003 – will combine its wireless broadband network with that of Kansas-based Sprint Nextel. The long-term aim is to create a national network that can be accessed from laptops and mobile phones.
New York corporate partner Joshua Korff led the team for Kirkland, which is acting on behalf of Clearwire.
Also advising on the deal for Kirkland were M&A partner Jeffrey Symons, tax partner Greer Phillips, pensions partner Scott Price and litigation partner Joseph Serino. Corporate partner Stephen Fraidin advised Clearwire's board on its fiduciary duties.
US national firm Davis Wright Tremaine also provided legal advice to Clearwire.
For King & Spalding, Atlanta-based corporate partner Michael Egan led a 25-lawyer team advising Sprint Nextel that also included corporate partners Stephen Wiseman and William Bates; tax partners Robert Woodward and John Sweet; financial transactions partners Angela Batterson and Albert Conrad; pensions partner Donald Kohla; and litigation partners Daniel King, Richard Marooney and Paul Straus.
Jones Day also picked up a role acting for Sprint Nextel.
An additional $3.2bn (£1.62bn) in financing for the project will be collectively invested by Bright House Networks, Comcast , Google, Intel and Time Warner Cable. According to The Wall Street Journal, Comcast will provide $1.05bn (£530m), Intel $1bn (£510m), Time Warner Cable $550m (£278.5m), Google $500m (£253.2m) and Bright House $100m (£50.6m) to fund the venture.
Robert Schumer, co-head of the M&A group at Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison, and fellow M&A partner Matthew Abbott provided legal counsel to Time Warner Cable.
Davis Polk & Wardwell tax partner Avishai Shachar and corporate partners David Caplan, Carole Schiffman, and Marc Williams advised Comcast. Corporate partner Kyoko Takahashi Lin provided counsel on employee benefits issues and litigation partner Arthur Burke advised on antitrust matters.
The American Lawyer is a US sister title of Legal Week.
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