TOKYO: Japanese mobile operator Softbank said Tuesday it planned to raise $3.9 billion through a record bond issuance in June to finance its proposed takeover of US firm Sprint Nextel.
Softbank, which is under pressure from Sprint shareholders to raise its bid, will sell five-year debt to Japanese investors after a similar issuance worth 300 billion yen in March, a company spokeswoman said.
"The latest bonds will finance our planned takeover of Sprint and other issues," she said, adding that it would announce a coupon on June 3 in a range between 1.25 percent and 2.25 percent per year.
If successful, the 400 billion yen ($3.9 billion) bond issuance would be the biggest debt of single maturity sold to retail investors by a non-financial company in Japan, news reports said.
The news sent shares in the nation's number three mobile operator down 3.78 percent to 5,850 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange as the benchmark Nikkei index closed up 0.13 percent on Tuesday.
Last month, Softbank President Masayoshi Son defended his proposed $20 billion takeover of Sprint Nextel, amid fears for the extra debt loading it would entail.
Including the new sale, Softbank will have raised more than one trillion yen through debt offerings this year, the Nikkei business daily said.
Son said Softbank's bid to buy 70 percent of Sprint ultimately offered a better deal for shareholders over the unsolicited $25.5 billion bid from American satellite-television provider DISH Network.
DISH has said it was offering to buy Sprint, the third-largest US wireless carrier, for $17.3 billion in cash and $8.2 billion in stock.
Softbank has benefited from growing demand at home for Apple's iPhone and had been the only Japanese mobile operator to offer the smartphone until KDDI, the country's second-largest operator, joined the fray.
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