A company logo of Dell is seen on the cover of its laptop at a Dell outlet in Hong Kong October October 21, 2009.

NEW YORK | Fri Feb 1, 2013 2:22am EST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Dell Inc is nearing an agreement to sell itself to a buyout consortium led by its founder and Chief Executive Michael Dell and private equity firm Silver Lake Partners, possibly announcing a deal as soon as Monday, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Michael Dell is expected to take majority ownership of the world's third-largest personal computer maker, which currently has a market value of $23 billion, while Silver Lake and Microsoft Corp would become minority investors, a third person familiar with the matter said.

The final price the group is expected to pay Dell shareholders could not be immediately learned. The deal would mark the largest leveraged buyout since the global financial crisis.

The transaction is set to be finalized over the weekend but the buyout consortium is working on last-minute details and the timetable could still slip, the people cautioned, asking not to be named because the matter is not public.

The investment group, which held negotiations with Dell's camp in New York on Thursday, has secured up to $15 billion of debt financing to take Dell private from four investment banks -- Barclays, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse and RBC Capital, people familiar with the matter said.

Barclays is also advising Silver Lake on the transaction, along with Perella Weinberg Partners, said two of the people. JPMorgan Chase & Co is advising Dell.

Representatives for Dell, Microsoft and Barclays declined to comment. Silver Lake and Perella Weinberg could not be immediately reached for comment.

As part of the transaction, Michael Dell will contribute his existing stake of almost 16 percent in the company toward gaining majority ownership, sources close to the matter have said.

Going private would allow Dell, which has been trying to become a one-stop shop for corporate technology needs as the PC market shrinks, to conduct that difficult makeover away from public scrutiny.

Dell has formed a special committee of its independent directors and hired Evercore Partners Inc to assess whether the company is getting the best deal for shareholders and not one that is just in the best interest of Michael Dell, several people familiar with the matter have told Reuters previously.

(Additional reporting by Poornima Gupta in San Francisco and Bill Rigby in Seattle; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)

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1 of 6. People walk in front of a logo of Softbank Corp at its branch in Tokyo, in this file picture taken March 2, 2011. Japan's Softbank Corp said on October 12, 2012 that it is in talks with Sprint Nextel Corp about investing in the U.S. telecoms firm, but nothing has been decided.

NEW YORK/TOKYO | Sun Oct 14, 2012 11:13pm EDT

NEW YORK/TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese mobile operator Softbank Corp is near a $20 billion deal to acquire control of U.S. carrier Sprint Nextel Corp, sources familiar with the matter said, as the firm led by billionaire Masayoshi Son seeks a foothold in the U.S. market.

A deal, which the sources said could be announced as early as Monday, would be Japan's biggest overseas buy, and would also give Sprint ammunition to potentially acquire peers and build out its 4G network to compete better in a U.S. wireless market dominated by AT&T and Verizon.

Softbank shares tumbled more than 7 percent early on Monday, and have lost more than a fifth of their value since news first broke of the firm's interest in Sprint. Investors are concerned that Son, who has a reputation for taking risks, may be offering too much.

Under the deal taking shape, the sources said Softbank would buy some $12 billion worth of Sprint shares and spend another $8 billion on new Sprint securities. The Japanese firm would initially buy $3 billion of bonds convertible into Sprint stock at $5.25 a share, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. It would also buy $5 billion in stock directly from Sprint, and offer $7.30 a share for stock it buys in the public markets. Sprint closed on Friday at $5.73.

Sprint, led by CEO Dan Hesse, has net debt of about $15 billion, while Softbank has net debt of about $10 billion. Adding the $2 billion of net debt of eAccess Ltd, which Softbank recently agreed to buy, would raise "post-deal gearing levels to unacceptable heights", Societe Generale said in a client note on Friday.

"It's the same (market) reaction as when Softbank said it was going to buy Vodafone a few years ago. Everyone came out and said it was far too expensive," said Fumiyuki Nakanishi, general manager of investment and research at SMBC Friend Securities.

Softbank acquired Vodafone's Japan unit for $15.5 billion in a landmark deal in 2006 that propelled the firm into the mobile carrier business.

CLEAR FOR CLEARWIRE

Sprint confirmed on Thursday it was in talks with Softbank about an investment that could involve a change in control. If Softbank takes a 70 percent stake of Sprint for $20 billion, that would imply the No. 3 U.S. wireless company was worth about $28.6 billion, some two-thirds greater than its market capitalization at Friday's close.

On Friday, Standard & Poor's put its "BBB" long-term rating on Softbank on 'credit watch with negative implications', saying the deal "may undermine Softbank's financial risk profile" and would pressure its free operating cash flow for at least the next few years.

A tie-up between Sprint and Softbank could see the U.S. firm use some of the proceeds to buy the part of Clearwire Corp it doesn't already own, given that company's attractive spectrum assets, analysts and investors have said. Clearwire stock soared on Friday.

An alliance with Sprint could also give Softbank leverage when dealing with Apple Inc, helping bolster its domestic position against KDDI Corp, which also now offers the iPhone in Japan, and market leader NTT Docomo, which is yet to offer the Apple smartphone.

A Tokyo-based Softbank spokesman reiterated on Monday that the company was in talks about making an investment in Sprint, but no agreement had been reached. Sprint representatives were not immediately available to comment, and a Clearwire spokesman declined to comment. CNBC's David Faber reported the news earlier on Sunday.

Softbank is in talks with Japan's leading banks - Mizuho Financial Group Inc, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group - to borrow up to $23 billion for a deal, people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday.

The banks involved in the syndicated loan could provide a commitment letter as soon as this week, the sources said.

A deal for Sprint at around the levels mentioned by sources - and including a follow-on deal for MetroPCS - would lift the tally of outbound deals by Japanese firms to a record $80 billion this year, Thomson Reuters data shows, underscoring a strong appetite for overseas assets seemingly unaffected by signs of slowing global growth.

SECOND STEP

With Sprint in hand, Softbank may also look to acquire smaller U.S. carrier MetroPCS Communications, Japanese media have reported. Sprint has had a long interest in MetroPCS, which earlier this month agreed to merge with T-Mobile USA, part of Deutsche Telekom AG.

A takeover of Sprint would require approval from U.S. regulators, including the Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission. Given the importance of telecommunications to U.S. national security, any deal would also likely warrant a review by the inter-agency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, according to one Washington-based attorney who advises on mergers and acquisitions

The attorney said that Japan's status as a close U.S. ally would help Softbank win approval for the deal.

($1 = 78.3550 Japanese yen)

(Additional reporting by Sophie Knight, James Topham and Andrea Shalal-Esa.; Editing by Gunna Dickson and Ian Geoghegan)

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Visitors talk near the welcome desk of the EADS booth at the ILA Berlin Air Show in Selchow near Schoenefeld south of Berlin on September 13, 2012.

PARIS/BRUSSELS | Tue Oct 9, 2012 8:04am EDT

PARIS/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The boards of EADS and BAE Systems prepared to weigh the results of weeks of tough political negotiations over a $45 billion merger on Tuesday with momentum building for an extension to a Wednesday deadline for the deal.

Several sources briefed on the negotiations said France and Britain had narrowed differences over the wording of key guarantees on state shareholdings, raising the prospect that the companies will buy more time to complete the complex deal.

"There has been some progress," a source close to the talks said, asking not to be identified.

But a French government source said the country had not changed its official opposition to a 10 percent cap on its future shareholding in the group, which would be the world's largest aerospace and arms conglomerate with 220,000 employees.

Differences between Britain, France and Germany over state control, jobs and investment have threatened to derail the talks, which have also drawn criticism from a number of investors.

The companies say they cannot spell out the full benefits of the merger before completing negotiations over the shape of the company's capital and possible guarantees on investment.

EADS Chief Executive Tom Enders and BAE Systems Chief Executive Ian King were due to review the talks with their boards and make a decision on the merger, on which the two managers have staked their careers and industrial ambitions.

"Ian King and Tom Enders will discuss the situation later today and then decide, jointly with the respective company Boards, the way forward," EADS said in an emailed statement.

The companies have insisted they will only request an extension to the October 10 deadline set by UK regulators if there is meaningful progress at government level.

Britain and France have the power to veto the deal, which must also be approved by the United States and overcome political objections in Germany.

UNIONS ON STAND-BY

Core EADS shareholders Lagardere, the French media firm, and German car firm Daimler also have the right to veto a deal. Both have expressed unease about the terms but are not participating in board discussions to prevent a conflict of interest, according to a person familiar with the talks.

EADS has put its unions on stand-by for briefings on a possible deal in either one week or two weeks, union officials said, suggesting the companies would seek a far shorter extension that the maximum allowed 28 days. A scheduled European works council went ahead on Tuesday with no managers present.

British Defense Secretary Philip Hammond said he hoped to meet his French, German and U.S. counterparts to discuss the proposed merger on the sidelines of a NATO meeting.

"We always knew that there was a crunch point this Wednesday and the company has to decide today whether it's going to ask the stock exchange for an extension of time or not," Hammond told reporters in Brussels.

(Additional reporting by Gernot Heller, Mathias Blamont, Sophie Sassard, Paul Sandle, Chris Vellacott, Arno Schuetze, Elizabeth Pineau, editing by Peter Millership)

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