Story updated clarifying that Sprint is going with a single offer initially priced at $1 billon, but increased to $1.5 billion following strong demand.
Sprint is looking to generate $1.5 billion through a public offerings of notes in an attempt to further fund operations.
The carrier initially said it has commenced an underwritten public offering of $1 billion with the help of numerous financial partners, including Citigroup Global Markets; Goldman Sachs; J.P Morgan Securities; Merrill Lynch; Pierce, Fenner & Smith; Barclays Capital; Credit Agricole Securities; Credit Suisse Securities; Deutsche Bank Securities; Mitsubishi UFJ Securities; Mizuho Securities USA; RBC Capital Markets; Scotia Capital; and SMBC Nikko Securities America.
However, due to reported strong demand for the initial offer Sprint increased the offer to $1.5 billion.
Sprint said proceeds from the offering will be used for working capital requirements, retirement or service requirements of outstanding debt and network expansion and modernization.
The offering is set to include 7.625% notes due 2025, and is expected to close on Feb. 24.
Sprint recently completed most of the work tied to its $5 billion Network Vision program, which saw the carrier completely replace its legacy 2G and 3G network as well as begin the rollout of LTE services.
The carrier earlier this year announced $2.1 billion in vendor financing tied to expanding its nascent Spark network initiative, which will see the carrier tap into its vast 2.5 GHz spectrum holdings in order to boost LTE network capacity. That financing included $1.8 billion in vendor funds from Nokia Networks, Samsung and Alcatel-Lucent, and $300 million in credit from a Canadian financier.
Outside of the vendor financing, Sprint amended terms of a $1 billion credit facility with Ericsson that aligned its financial covenants with Sprint’s revolving credit facility. That agreement had an outstanding principal balance of $635 million at the end of September.
“These deals provide Sprint with greater flexibility and liquidity options as we focus on growing the business and investing in our network,” explained Sprint CFO Joe Euteneuer at the time.
Analysts were becoming worried about Sprint’s ability to finance its network plans despite claims from parent company Softbank that the money would be available if needed. Sprint explained that at the end of September, it had $5.3 billion in total cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, and $8.8 billion in total liquidity.
Sprint reported a loss of $2.2 billion during its third fiscal quarter ending Dec. 31, 2014, with a majority of that loss coming from a $1.9 billion one-time charge related to a devaluation of the Sprint brand.
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