SoftBank expects to complete Sprint acquisition in July, despite rival Dish offer

SoftBank’s planned $20.1 billion takeover of Sprint was thrown into disarray yesterday by a $25.5 billion rival bid from Dish Network, but the Japanese carrier still expects the acquisition to proceed as planned. In a statement provided to AllThingsD, SoftBank said that the deal is set to be completed on July 1st.

“SoftBank believes that the agreed terms of our transaction with Sprint offer Sprint shareholders superior short and long term benefits to Dish’s highly conditional preliminary proposal. The SoftBank-Sprint transaction is in the advanced stages of receiving the necessary approvals, and we expect to consummate the transaction on July 1, 2013.”

Reuters reports that if SoftBank were to walk away from the deal, it could stand to gain up to $3.5 billion from a break-up fee, currency hedging based on the depreciated yen, and a convertible bond. But the carrier’s charismatic CEO Masayoshi Son is unlikely to get a better chance to make a splash in the US market, and it’s not surprising to see his company reaffirm its commitment to the takeover. Whether that will require an increased offer to match Dish, however, remains to be seen.