Report: Softbank to buy 70 percent of Sprint - KansasCity.com
Japan’s Softbank Corp. will buy a 70 percent stake in Sprint Nextel Corp. for about $20 billion, CNBC reported, citing unidentified people familiar with the transaction.
The agreement calls for a direct purchase by Softbank from Sprint of $8 billion in stock and a tender offer for an additional $12 billion from holders, CNBC’s David Faber reported today. The tender offer price is $7.30 a share, CNBC said, or 27 percent more than Sprint’s Oct. 12 closing price of $5.73.
The deal is intended to revitalize the third-biggest U.S. wireless carrier into a more formidable competitor. With the investment from Japanese billionaire Masayoshi Son’s Softbank, Sprint can fund a faster expansion of its 4G wireless network and could make further acquisitions aimed at challenging Verizon Wireless and AT&T.
