About a month ago, I wrote an article about the huge bid STRP had received and how it made the short sellers at Kerrisdale look like a pack of wild baboons throwing shit at one another.
Since then, both Verizon and At&t have been tripping over each other — trying to grab the company. Well, today, a new contender arises. According to the company, ‘an unnamed telecommunications company’ just upped the ante, stepped into the arena, and placed a god damned bid.
Shares of STRP are now shooting north of $200. This is truly becoming one of the most interesting and heinous short squeezes of all-time.
Source: CNBC
Straight Path Communications said on Monday an unnamed telecommunications company had raised its offer to buy the wireless spectrum holder, in the latest move in a bidding war with AT&T.
The unnamed company is Verizon Communications, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The all-stock offer of $184 per share represents an enterprise value of about $3.1 billion, Straight Path said.
The offer reflects an equity value of about $2.3 billion, according to Reuters calculations.
That tops AT&T Inc’s offer of $95.63 per share or $1.25 billion, which was announced last month.
Straight Path’s shares jumped nearly 26.3 percent to $204 in premarket trading on Monday. Shares of Verizon and AT&T were largely unchanged.
Straight Path, which holds a large trove of 28 GHz and 39 GHz millimeter wave spectrum used in mobile communications, would give a new owner an advantage in 5G development.
Verizon and AT&T are seeking to gain an edge in the race to develop a fifth-generation network (5G) that would offer faster downloads and boost internet-reliant products such as self-driving cars.
Straight Path also reiterated that the unnamed bidder would cover the termination fee of $38 million that Straight Path would be required to pay AT&T if Straight Path picked another buyer.
The unnamed company had last week offered $135.96 per share for Straight Path and Monday’s bid tops that offer, Straight Path said.
What’s intriguing about these offers is the fact they are so far below where the actual shares are trading. I mean, the bid was last offered at $184, yet the stock is north of $200. Clearly, someone thinks another offer is coming. Get this, thanks to fuckheads like Kerrisdale, upwards of 40% of STRP’s float is sold short.
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