Vodafone has completed its £9bn sale of its operation in Japan. The giant cellco announced last month that it planned to flog its 97.68 per cent stake in Vodafone Japan to Softbank Corporation.

Now that the deal has been done and dusted Vodafone plans to return around £6bn to shareholders later this summer.

In a statement Voda chief exec Arun Sarin said: "I am pleased to announce the completion of the sale of Vodafone Japan to SoftBank. We maintain a strong relationship with SoftBank and we look forward to continuing to benefit from insights in the important Japanese mobile market." ®

Related stories

• Voda dogged by reports of shareholder revolt (5 June 2006)
• Vodafone records largest loss in European history – shares rise (2 June 2006)
• IT jobs under threat as Voda reports £15bn loss (30 May 2006)
• Vodafone gives corporate merry go-round a spin (23 May 2006)
• Verizon Wireless closes in on Voda stake (15 May 2006)
• Voda eyes Tiscali, Bulldog (24 April 2006)
• Vodafone restructures business (6 April 2006)
• Vodafone eyes fixed line service (20 March 2006)
• Voda flogs Japanese arm (17 March 2006)