SoftBank plans IPO of mobile unit this year: report
1 min read 15 Jan 2018, 08:50 AM ISTMasayoshi Son is planning to list the mobile phone unit of his SoftBank Group in Tokyo and overseas this year, says a report
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Tokyo: Masayoshi Son is planning to list the mobile phone unit of his SoftBank Group Corp. in Tokyo and overseas this year, according to the Nikkei newspaper.
The offering could bring in about 2 trillion yen ($18 billion), the newspaper said without saying where it got the information. SoftBank is planning to apply to the Tokyo Stock Exchange as soon as this spring for a listing on the bourse’s first section with a listing abroad, perhaps in London, about the same time, the Nikkei said.
The Tokyo-based company said in a statement that such a listing is “one such option," but no decision has been made to officially proceed with the IPO.
SoftBank has been examining ways to unlock the value of its holdings and boost its share price. The Tokyo-based company holds assets such as the mobile unit and its stake in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd that have been valued at more than 19 trillion yen, excluding debt, while its market value is 9.8 trillion yen.
SoftBank shares fell 2% on Friday and are little changed this year. Bloomberg
