Son Boosts SoftBank Collateral Pledges to 33% of Holdings

(Bloomberg) -- SoftBank Group Corp. founder Masayoshi Son boosted the amount of stock pledged as collateral to financial institutions to 153.3 million shares, or about 33% of his stake in the Japanese conglomerate.

The Japanese billionaire disclosed an increase of about 8.05 million shares as of March 8, worth about 34 billion yen ($291 million) at current prices. Bloomberg calculated the change from an earlier January disclosure. 

The largest increase in collateral was at Daiwa Securities Group Inc. and UBS AG Tokyo Branch. About 20 million shares are now pledged at Daiwa compared with 18 million shares as of January, while 8 million shares are pledged at UBS compared with 6 million previously. The figures increased at Julius Baer Group Ltd. to 29.5 million, up from 28 million shares.  

SoftBank shares have tumbled sharply over the past year, falling 60% from their peak a year ago. Many of the companies Son has backed, including China’s Didi Global Inc. and Indian payments pioneer Paytm, have suffered in the tech market downturn. 

On Tuesday, the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index sank as much as 7.7%, following a plunge in the previous session that was the biggest since the global financial crisis. Tech giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., SoftBank’s most valuable holding, was among those leading the decline. 

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