TOKYO Japan's leading mobile telephone company NTT Docomo Inc. said Wednesday it was offering corporate bonds in Japan worth 180 billion yen ($1.5 billion) to help fund an overseas buying spree.

The bonds would be issued in two tranches with payment due on March 19, AFP quoted Docomo as saying.

Of the total, 130 billion yen is in five-year bonds with a 0.75 percent coupon. The remaining 50 billion yen is in 10-year bonds with a 1.49 percent coupon.

It is Docomo's first launch of domestic corporate bonds, the company said, and among the largest domestic issue ever by a Japanese company, according to press reports.