AlQa'dah 29, 1433, Oct 15, 2012, SPA - Japanese mobile carrier Softbank Corp said Monday it had reached an agreement to pay 20.1 billion dollars for 70 per cent of shares in Sprint Nextel Corp, the third-largest US mobile company, DPA reported. The deal will create one of the world's largest communications groups, with a total of 90 million mobile phone subscriptions. Softbank, the vendor of Apple Inc's iPhone smartphones in Japan, taking advantage of the yen's appreciation, aims to expand its business through the acquisition in the US market. Softbank will pay 8 billion dollars for newly issued Sprint stock and 12.1 billion dollars for additional shares in the market, the company said. The deal is expected to complete the purchase by in mid-2013, Softbank said.
