What is $5 billion to Sprint? The number-three U.S. mobile network turned down a cash-infusion offer from South Korea’s SK Telecom and Providence Equity, which reportedly included former Chairman Tim Donahue coming in as CEO as part of the package. Stanford Group analyst Michael Nelson says Sprint has major problems, but liquidity is not one of them.  The New York Times has a copy of the letter sent to Sprint detailing the offer:

“We are prepared to invest $5.0 billion, and potentially substantially more, in new equity in Sprint Nextel to support Tim Donahue as the new Chief Executive Officer of the Company. The $5.0 billion investment would be in the form of a convertible preferred security on standard terms, including a conversion price of 20% above the current market and a non-cash dividend of 3-4%. In addition to our capital investment, we would anticipate being actively engaged at the Board level, with representatives of SKT and Providence joining the Board of Directors.”

JC Flowers is willing to revise its offer for ailing British bank Northern Rock and address two concerns the British government had with its initial proposal, according to a person close to the company. But the Treasury has not returned calls to discuss the issues since selecting a rival consortium led by Virgin Group last Monday, and JC Flowers would consider withdrawing if it can’t discuss the issues.

    Italian oil major ENI agreed to buy UK-based oil producer Burren Energy for a sweetened 1.736 billion pounds ($3.58 billion) and France and Italy signed an energy cooperation deal at a summit meeting that should ease some of the bitterness caused by wrangling over French utility Suez last year. China’s banking regulator is on track to issue recommendations by next March on whether to raise foreign ownership limits on commercial banks, according to a U.S. industry group.

    The WSJ’s Deal Journal and the New York Times’ DealBook dig into Citadel’s E*Trade bailout. Deal Journal looks at what the price means for the market for dodgy mortgage backed securities, quoting an analyst as saying, “We finally have a market-determined price for all those mortgage-backed securities, and it is 27 cents on the dollar”, while DealBook looks at Citadel’s previous forays into distressed firms. The Deal Journal also breaks down “the $1 billion rumor” that transaction-services firm Alliance Data Systems pending purchase by private-equity firm Blackstone Group was being renegotiated. The rumor pounded Alliance Data shares.