SoftBank Officials Revive Talks to Take Company Private: FT

(Bloomberg) -- SoftBank Group Corp. executives are reviving discussions about taking the technology company private, the Financial Times reported, citing people with direct knowledge of the matter.

The talks are driven by frustrations over the persistent discount in SoftBank’s $115 billion equity valuation compared with the value of its individual holdings, the Financial Times said. A number of fundamental changes to SoftBank’s long-term business strategy also accelerated the talks.

Internal opposition to a management buyout, however, remains strong, because there is strong prestige in Japan attached to being a listed company, the newspaper said.

SoftBank declined to comment to the paper.

SoftBank had briefly explored a take private with the support of activist hedge fund Elliott Management and Abu Dhabi state fund Mubadala, the FT reported in March. SoftBank is nearing a deal to sell its chipmaker Arm Ltd. to Nvidia Corp in a deal that could value Arm at about $40 billion in cash and stock, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.

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