In the priciest-ever overseas acquisition for a Japanese company, Softbank Corp. on Monday announced that it would buy about 70 percent of Sprint Nextel Corp., giving the U.S. carrier a much-needed cash infusion and boosting its chances to challenge giants Verizon and AT&T.
The $20.1 billion deal links a struggling U.S. mobile company, still trying to build up its high-speed next-generation network, with a Japanese wireless carrier noted for its history of risky – though so far fruitful – acquisitions.
Softbank has a net debt of about $10 billion and it needed several major loans to finance the deal.
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