Japanese telecom company SoftBank is trying to convince banks not to loan Dish the money to buy a big stake in Sprint, reports Reuters' Soyoung Kim and Olivia Oran.
SoftBank's is reportedly telling banks that if they do loan Dish the money, SoftBank will cut them out of the highly anticipated IPO of China's largest e-commerce company, Alibaba. SoftBank owns a 33% stake in Alibaba.
SoftBank wants to buy a big 70% stake of Sprint for about $20 billion. But so does satellite TV provider Dish, and Dish is offering to pay $25.5 billion.
Dish's offer, however, depends on Dish's ability to borrow $9 billion from banks.
SoftBank could thwart Dish if it could stop banks from loaning Dish the money.
At least "one major Wall Street bank" has withdrawn its offer to finance Dish's bid because of this tactic, Kim and Oran report.
Then again, this could all be smoke and mirrors. Alibaba's IPO is not imminent. It hasn't announced a date or hired underwriters, they report.
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