Japanese wireless carrier Softbank Corp. has agreed to purchase a US$20 billion stake in Sprint Nextel Corp. To finance the acquisition, the company has to raise 370 billion yen or US$4 billion through bonds issues priced at 300 billion yen of 1.47 percent for four years retail. The sale would start on February 25 and would be overseen by Nomura Holdings Inc. Another bond issue was made by Softbank amounting to 70 billion yen of same period maturity 1.467 percent debt pricing.
The Masayoshi Son owned firm had tendered an offer last October for the seventy percent stake in Sprint Nextel to be used as entry into the US market and launch itself to become the third largest carrier in the world. The company was also the first Japanese company to sell the iPhone in Japan and used the device's popularity to raise nearly 840 trillion yen of cash and assets. These would help in paying for the Sprint Nextel purchase and according to Bank of Japan estimates, Japanese households owned 1,510 trillion yen in financial assets in Softbank including the 840 trillion previously raised.
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