Japanese telecoms group Softbank has agreed to purchase rival operator eAccess in a US$2.3bn deal.
Softbank said it will pay Y52,000 for each of eAccess’ 3,465,180 shares, which equates to Y180bn (US$2.3bn).
According to Softbank, the total synergies…
Japanese telecoms group Softbank has agreed to purchase rival operator eAccess in a US$2.3bn deal.
Softbank said it will pay Y52,000 for each of eAccess’ 3,465,180 shares, which equates to Y180bn (US$2.3bn).
According to Softbank, the total synergies following the management integration will be Y360bn (US$4.6bn), with Y200bn (US$2.5bn) coming from customer base expansion and Y110bn (US$1.4bn) from network sharing.
The deal represents significant consolidation in the Japanese market, with the country’s number three operator by customers, Softbank, acquiring number four.
Combined, the newly merged company will serve more than 34 million people, close to the 35.7 million of KDDI’s au but behind NTT Docomo, which has 60.5 million.
After the integration, Softbank projects that by August 2013 it will overtake number two operator au and have a market share of 28.8%.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange reacted with shares in eAccess rocketing by 26.07%, while Softbank dropped by 1.74%.
Softbank is a quadruple-play operator and eAccess offers ADSL services alongside mobile.
Goldman Sachs is financial advisers to eAccess. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett is advising Blackstone, which is a shareholder in eAccess. Akin Gump, Anderson Mori & Tomotsune and Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu are legally advising the company.
Softbank is being advised by Morrison Foerster.
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