TOKYO: SoftBank Corp priced its initial public offering (IPO) at 1,500 yen per share and will sell an extra 160 million shares to meet solid demand, a regulatory filing showed, raising 2.65 trillion yen ($23.5 billion) in Japan’s biggest-ever IPO.
That makes the share sale one of the largest of all time globally, just shy of the record $25 billion that Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba Group Holding Ltd raised in 2014.
The price set by SoftBank Group Corp’s Japanese telecommunications unit was unchanged from the indicative price, and its overallotment option will be exercised in full, the filing to the finance ministry showed on Monday.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange on Monday said the shares will be traded on its first section from December 19.
The IPO pricing comes just days after Japan’s third-largest mobile phone network provider by subscriber numbers suffered rare nationwide service outage. SoftBank said the disruption would not affect its earnings and dividend forecast made on November 12. But other causes of concern abound. The government wants to see a decline in mobile phone charges just as competition is set to increase with the market entrance next year of e-commerce firm Rakuten Inc.
Moreover, sources said that Tokyo plans to ban government purchases of equipment from Chinese telecommunications infrastructure firm Huawei Technologies Co Ltd. SoftBank has a long relationship with Huawei that has included joint trials of fifth-generation (5G) network technology.
To stimulate interest in SoftBank’s IPO among retail investors, the deal’s domestic lead underwriters have pursued an unprecedented marketing campaign, including what are believed to be Japan’s first TV adverts for a private firm’s IPO.
SoftBank is widely perceived to be a mature business — and so is considered to have relatively slower growth prospects — and the huge number of shares on offer has raised concern of oversupply. Still, brokerages said they would be able to attract enough investors with SoftBank’s dividend alone. — Reuters
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