The 1st DEFECTOR? lol!;
Saturday June 9, 4:22 pm Eastern Time
Virgin in U.S. mobile, airline loan deals-papers
LONDON, June 9 (Reuters) - Richard Branson's Virgin Group has chosen U.S. telecoms group Sprint Corp (NYSE:FON -
news) as the partner for its $1 billion entry into the North American mobile industry, the Sunday Telegraph reported.
But the businessman has had to mortgage his entire stake in Virgin Atlantic Airways [VA.UL] to finance his move into the
largely untapped U.S. mobile market, the Observer said.
Virgin, which also held talks with Nextel Corp and AT&T Corp (NYSE:T - news) on the long-promised U.S. mobile move,
is believed to have signed a memorandum of understanding with Sprint in the last few days and will announce the 50/50
venture within a few weeks, the Telegraph said.
Branson said the mortgaging of his airline stake was routine practice and freed up money to fund expansion of his mobile
phones and train businesses, the Observer said.
Documents filed at Britain's Companies House last month say Branson's bank, Lloyds TSB Plc, has been given a ``charge''
-- financial terminology for a mortgage -- over ``all stocks, shares, bonds'' and other financial assets of Virgin Atlantic Ltd,
the UK company that owns the stake, the paper reported.
Branson owns 51 percent of the airline after selling a stake to Singapore Airlines Ltd last year.
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