SoftBank’s record IPO reaches €20.6bn after extra share sale

SoftBank is set to raise 2.65 trillion yen (€20.6 billion) in Japan’s biggest-ever IPO – a share sale widely regarded as finalising the group’s transition from domestic telco to a monolithic global tech investor.

Telco unit SoftBank Corp on Monday priced its stock at 1,500 yen apiece, as previously indicated. It also said it will sell all extra shares set aside for excess demand, taking the total just shy of the record $25 billion (€22 billion) raised in 2014 by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, a SoftBank Group portfolio company.

Demand

The group, which controls the world's biggest tech private equity fund at nearly $100 billion (€87.9 billion), will use the proceeds to invest in start-ups which have ranged from tiny games makers to US ride-hailing giant Uber Technologies.

“Demand was well above the number of shares on offer,” SoftBank said, declining to disclose by how much.

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The stock will debut on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s first section on December 19th.

The IPO pricing comes just days after Japan’s third-largest mobile phone network provider by subscriber numbers suffered a rare nationwide service outage. SoftBank said the disruption would not affect its earnings or dividend forecast. – Reuters