Shares in Sprint Nextel have soared on talk that Deutsche Telekom may make an offer to buy the company. But the high cost of any deal, combined with the technological challenges, suggest the German company may be better off considering a joint venture rather than a bid, our commentary team say.

The high price of staying competitive in the U.S. market makes the decision on Sprint a tough call for Deutsche Telekom, analysts say.

And here’s a round-up of deal-related stories from Tuesday’s press:

* The U.S. government is talking to Citigroup Inc about how to sell the roughly one-third stake the government acquired as part of its bailout of the bank, Bloomberg said. Reuters story here.

* India’s largest power producer, state-run NTPC Ltd, is looking to spend up to $1 billion to acquire a South African coal mining firm, the Mint newspaper said. Reuters story here.

* Brazilian billionaire Andre Esteves plans an initial public offering for his BTG Pactual investment bank in 2010, Valor Economico newspaper said, without citing a source for the information.

* RSA, the UK general insurance group, is looking at large acquisitions potentially worth about 600 million pounds ($994 million), that might need to be supported with a rights issue, the Financial Times said.

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