SoftBank shares up; sources say company willing to cede control of Sprint

Shares in SoftBank Group Corp <9984.T> rose 2 percent in morning trade on Monday after a Reuters report that the Japanese company is prepared to cede control of Sprint Corp to T-Mobile US Inc to clinch a merger of the two U.S. wireless carriers.

SoftBank is expected to approach T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom AG for negotiations when an ongoing auction of airwaves ends in April and a ban on talks between rivals is lifted, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

(Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim)