[ad_1]
A SoftBank humanoid robot stands inside a company store in Tokyo earlier this year.
Photo:
Akio Kon/Bloomberg News
TOKYO—
SoftBank Group
Corp.
said it would seek to raise more than $20 billion with the initial public offering of its Japanese mobile unit, as it hunts for funds to fuel its nearly $100 billion investment machine.
On Monday, SoftBank Group said it received approval from the Tokyo Stock Exchange to float the mobile unit on Dec. 19 and planned to sell as much as 36% of the unit. The listing could raise as much as ¥2.6 trillion ($23 billion) in case of high demand.
SoftBank Group said it expected a listing price of ¥1,500 a share, which would value the unit, known as SoftBank Corp., at more than ¥7 trillion.
With backing from Saudi Arabia, SoftBank runs the SoftBank Vision Fund and its affiliate Delta Fund. Together those funds command $98 billion in capital.
Total debt at SoftBank was close to ¥18 trillion at Sept. 30, compared with ¥3.2 trillion in cash and cash equivalents. Much of the debt is tied to the Japanese mobile unit and
Sprint
Corp.
in the U.S., which is controlled by SoftBank Group.
The initial public offering of the mobile arm, along with a planned deal to sell control of Sprint to
T-Mobile US
Inc.,
would help SoftBank Group lower its debt. The T-Mobile deal is awaiting regulatory approval.
If successful, the SoftBank mobile unit IPO would be one of the largest in history, though the amount SoftBank intends to raise would fall short of the $25 billion raised by
Alibaba Group Holding
Ltd.
in its 2014 IPO.
Write to Mayumi Negishi at [email protected]
Source link
