Japanese mobile giant Softbank is reportedly planning to offer a Y400bn (US$3.9bn) five-year bond to individual investors shortly after dropping its bid for T-Mobile US.
The notes will price on 28 August with a coupon of between 0.95% and 1.55%,…
Japanese mobile giant Softbank is reportedly planning to offer a Y400bn (US$3.9bn) five-year bond to individual investors shortly after dropping its bid for T-Mobile US.
The notes will price on 28 August with a coupon of between 0.95% and 1.55%, reported Bloomberg citing a ministry of finance filing.
Proceeds will refinance debt and support future investments, although there is no specific merger or acquisition in mind, added the report.
In early August, Softbank reportedly walked away from months of talks to merge its US unit Sprint with T-Mobile over regulatory pressure to keep four players in the market. French mobile challenger Iliad had also made an offer for the Deutsche Telekom-owned group but its US$15bn bid was seen by management as too low.
Meanwhile, US satellite broadcaster Dish Network has said it could make sense to bid for T-Mobile now that Softbank’s Sprint is out of the race.
The Japanese telco last sold a bond to individual investors back in May, when it raised Y300bn (US$2.9bn) in five-year notes which priced at par and carry a 1.45% coupon.
Underwriters for that debt were Nomura, Daiwa, Mizuho, Mitsubishi UFJ, Morgan Stanley, SMBC Nikko, SBI, IwaiCosmo, Okasan and Tokai Tokyo. The trustee was Aozora Bank.
Softbank recently posted sales up 126.1% year-on-year to Y1.99trn (US$19.4bn), while operating profit dropped 15.6% to Y337.6bn (US$3.3bn).
The group also owns a large stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, which is soon set to list its shares in an offering that could generate a sizeable cash windfall for Softbank.
