SoftBank Phone Unit Taps Banks for First Bond Sale Since Listing
SoftBank Phone Unit Taps Banks for First Bond Sale Since Listing
(Bloomberg) -- The Japanese telecom business of Masayoshi Son’s technology conglomerate mandated banks for its first domestic bond sale since listing in 2018, people familar with the matter said.
SoftBank Corp. will seek to price yen-denominated bonds before March 31, Japan’s fiscal year end, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. The company registered Friday to sell as much as 1 trillion yen ($9.1 billion) of debt.
Son sold a stake in the domestic telecoms business in 2018 to fund further investments. He has been transforming parent SoftBank Group Corp. into one of the world’s biggest technology investors. A multi-billion-dollar writedown of the parent’s investment in office-sharing startup WeWork last year caused some investors to question Son’s strategy for generating cash from investments to keep servicing its massive debt pile.
Despite SoftBank Group’s recent investment woes, the company’s huge unrealized gains from its holding in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has insulated its share price and debt from any large sell-off.
A spokeperson for SoftBank said that the company is considering issuing bonds, but hasn’t yet decided details.
To contact the reporters on this story: Issei Hazama in Tokyo at ihazama@bloomberg.net;Finbarr Flynn in Tokyo at fflynn3@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrew Monahan at amonahan@bloomberg.net, Finbarr Flynn
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