Tokyo — Japanese technology investment group SoftBank plans to raise ¥600bn ($4.1bn) by issuing bonds to retail investors, it said in a filing on Monday.
The proceeds of SoftBank’s largest bond issuance will be used to redeem existing bonds and to cover a portion of the outstanding payment on the acquisition of shares of chip designer Arm from its Vision Fund investment vehicle in August 2023, a SoftBank spokesperson said.
SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son is known to take on debt to fund investments. Last week SoftBank led a $40bn funding round in ChatGPT operator OpenAI, of which SoftBank would contribute $30bn.
The bonds are set to mature in May 2030 and will yield 3%- 3.6%, with the exact rate to be set on April 18.
The group has about ¥7-trillion ($47.83bn) in outstanding bonds, London Stock Exchange data shows. It aims to keep the total value of its loans at a ratio of under 25% of the group’s total assets. At the end of December 2024, this ratio stood at 12.9%.
Reuters
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.