Softbank in talks to buy majority stake in Brightstar Corp

Softbank Corp, Japan's third-largest carrier, yesterday confirmed a media report that it is in talks to acquire a majority stake in US wireless device distributor Brightstar Corp.

The Nikkei business daily reported that Softbank is in talks to buy a majority stake in Brightstar in a deal worth more than 100 billion yen ($1 billion).

''Today, certain media carried reports on the acquisition of shares in Brightstar Corp. of the United States. None of these reports are based on announcements from SoftBank. While the matter is under discussion, nothing has been decided at this point. A disclosure will be made as soon as deemed practicable,'' the Tokyo-based company said in a statement.

Softbank, run by billionaire founder and CEO Masayoshi Son, has recently gone on a shopping spree in North America and Europe in order to boost revenues amid declining sales at its home country.

Early this week, Softbank teamed up with GungHo Online Entertainment Inc to acquire a 51 per cent stake in Finnish smartphone game maker Supercell Oy for $1.53 billion. (See: SoftBank, GungHo to buy majority stake in Finland's Supercell for $1.53 bn)

Earlier this year, it splurged $21.6 billion for a 70 per cent stake in Sprint Nextel Corp, the third-largest wireless carrier in the US, and paid $2.3 billion to acquire its local smaller rival eAccess.

Florida-based Brightstar, ranked 58 on the Forbes List of America's Largest Private Companies, is the world's largest specialised wireless distributor and a leading global services company, serving mobile device manufacturers, wireless operators and retailers.

Brightstar distributes mobile phones, provides handset insurance and financial services in about 50 countries.

It clients include Apple, Blackberry, Nokia, HTC, LG, Sony, Samsung, Hewlett-Packard and others.