Clearwire Corp agreed to sell roughly half of the company for $2.2 billion to majority shareholder Sprint Nextel Corp, which would then have full ownership of spectrum that will help it offer high-speed wireless services. The $2.97-per-share deal is only 7 cents per share higher than a bid many minority shareholders said was too low days before. Clearwire shares tumbled 12.2 percent to $2.96 in morning trading on Monday.

Sprint already owns slightly more than half of Clearwire. The company said owners of 13 percent of Clearwire shares - Comcast Corp, Intel Corp and Bright House Networks LLC - had agreed to vote for the deal. But it was not immediately clear whether Sprint, the No 3 US wireless carrier, could win the backing of a majority of Clearwire's minority shareholders, which it needs to take control. "This is not going to be popular with the minority shareholders," said Davidson & Co analyst Donna Jaegers. But Clearwire's top executive told analysts on a Monday call that the company had little alternative.

Copyright Reuters, 2012