Sprint is one step closer to acquiring the funding it need to buy T-Mobile

Sprint’s plans to acquire T-Mobile and merge the two companies hardly comes as a surprise. Both companies seem to be pretty eager at the idea and have openly welcome the merger, although there are some, namely their competitors, who don’t feel the same. In fact regulators have been reported to be deadset on the deal happening. However it seems despite the detractors and potential roadblocks, Sprint appears to be moving on ahead with their plans. According to a report on Reuters, it seems that Sprint is one step closer to securing the financing that they might need in order to purchase T-Mobile. The report claims that Sprint has managed to line up eight banks who would be willing to help fund their acquisition.

Sprint Corp has lined up eight banks to finance its proposed acquisition of T-Mobile US Inc, edging closer to a deal that would merge the third- and fourth-biggest U.S. mobile operators, according to people familiar with the matter. The debt package exceeds $40 billion and includes a bridge loan of roughly $20 billion from Japan’s Softbank Corp to Sprint, as well as some $20 billion refinancing of T-Mobile’s existing debt, the people said this week. Five global banks – JPMorgan Chase & Co, Goldman Sachs Group, Deutsche Bank AG, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Citigroup Inc – have agreed to finance Sprint’s proposal to acquire the smaller rival, the people said. Sprint, majority-owned by Softbank, has also tapped Japanese banks Mizuho Financial Group Inc, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, the people added. The companies will seek to finalize details of the financing in the coming month so they could announce a merger around August, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is not public.