MetroPCS Falls After Reuters Says Sprint Offer Unlikely

MetroPCS Communications Inc. (PCS), which agreed to merge with T-Mobile USA Inc. in October, fell the most in eight weeks after Reuters reported that Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) is unlikely to make a counteroffer.

MetroPCS tumbled 7.5 percent to $9.96 at the close in New York, for the biggest drop since Oct. 3. The Richardson, Texas- based company’s shares had risen 24 percent this year through Dec. 3.

Sprint making a bid for MetroPCS would complicate the ongoing regulatory review of a separate deal with Japan’s Softbank Corp (9984), according to Reuters, which cited people it didn’t identify. MetroPCS climbed 5 percent on Nov. 30, after Shing Yin, a Guggenheim Securities LLC analyst, said Sprint might make a counteroffer for the company.

Yin said the fact that Sprint had extended its deadline for a proxy statement relating to the Softbank transaction supported his theory.

Sprint remains interested in consolidation and may revisit a potential deal after securing approval for the Softbank transaction, Reuters said.

Bill White, a spokesman for Overland Park, Kansas-based Sprint, declined to comment on a potential counterbid for MetroPCS. A MetroPCS spokesman also declined to comment.

To contact the reporter on this story: Niamh Ring in New York at nring@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Kevin Miller at kmiller@bloomberg.net