Vodafone to Quit Japan, in Talks to Sell to Softbank
Vodafone Group Plc said on Friday it was in talks to sell its struggling Japanese business to Internet communications conglomerate Softbank Corp. Sources close to the matter said the two companies were in the final stages of talks, and a deal could be reached as early as this month. Vodafone said the talks may or may not lead to a deal, and a further announcement would be made in due course.
The sources said the value of the deal would be significantly higher than the 1 trillion yen (4.9 billion pounds) figure that other sources said the two companies had discussed over a year ago. The book value of the unit, Vodafone K.K., is currently about 2 trillion yen. Softbank officials declined to comment.