9984.T - SoftBank Group Corp.
| Previous Close | 5,531.00 |
| Open | 5,595.00 |
| Bid | 5,661.00 x 0 |
| Ask | 5,665.00 x 0 |
| Day's Range | 5,570.00 - 5,711.00 |
| 52 Week Range | 3,958.00 - 12,025.00 |
| Volume | 20,695,300 |
| Avg. Volume | 13,682,826 |
| Market Cap | 11.732T |
| Beta (5Y Monthly) | 1.63 |
| PE Ratio (TTM) | 41.92 |
| EPS (TTM) | 135.12 |
| Earnings Date | May 07, 2020 - May 11, 2020 |
| Forward Dividend & Yield | 44.00 (0.80%) |
| Ex-Dividend Date | Mar 30, 2020 |
| 1y Target Est | 13,753.00 |
- Bloomberg
T-Mobile, Sprint Revise Deal Terms After Regulatory Approval
(Bloomberg) -- T-Mobile US Inc. and Sprint Corp. agreed to new terms for their pending merger that take account of the slide in Sprint shares since the transaction was first agreed, putting the industry-altering deal a step closer to completion.T-Mobile owners will get roughly 11 shares of Sprint for each of their stock, the companies said Thursday. That’s an increase from a ratio of 9.75 previously and is more favorable for T-Mobile’s German owner Deutsche Telekom AG.The equity value of the amended deal is about $37 billion compared with the original agreement of $26.5 billion, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Erhan Gurses. The higher valuation partly reflects the 62% gain in T-Mobile shares since the all-stock transaction was announced almost two years ago, despite the deterioration in Sprint’s business.Getting one of the biggest U.S. wireless mergers ever over the finish line would be a boon for Deutsche Telekom as it will reduce its reliance on Europe, where carriers are struggling to grow amid fierce competition. T-Mobile makes up more than half of Deutsche Telekom’s sales, up from about a third in 2014. A completed deal will also benefit Sprint owner SoftBank Group Corp. by allowing its chairman, Masayoshi Son, to better focus on his technology investments and the $100 billion Vision Fund.The combined company, which will operate under the T-Mobile name, will have a regular monthly subscriber base of about 80 million -- in the same league as AT&T Inc., which has 75 million subscribers, and Verizon Communications Inc., which has 114 million.When the transaction closes, which could happen as soon as April 1, Deutsche Telekom is expected to keep 43% of the merged entity, while SoftBank has 24%. The rest will be held by public shareholders.Deutsche Telekom shares fell 1.3% to trade at 16.41 euros in Frankfurt. Sprint shares were up 5% to $9.96 at 11:01 a.m. in New York, while T-Mobile was down 1.8% to $97.73.The original accord, which united the third- and fourth-largest U.S. wireless carriers, was forged in April 2018. That pact lapsed on Nov. 1, and the companies didn’t initially renew the terms while they fought for government approval. When a federal judge rejected a state lawsuit to block the transaction earlier this month, that put the talks on the front burner.Along the way, Sprint’s condition has worsened. That added pressure to redraw the agreement so that it was more favorable to Deutsche Telekom.SoftBank agreed to surrender 48.8 million T-Mobile shares that it will acquire in the merger to the combined company immediately after the transaction closes. But those shares could be reissued to SoftBank by 2025 if the new company’s stock stays above $150 for a period of time.That arrangement -- having SoftBank relinquish the stock after the deal closes -- was structured so that the deal wouldn’t have to go before another shareholder vote.Sprint investors other than SoftBank will still get the original ratio of 0.10256 T-Mobile shares for each Sprint share -- the equivalent of about 9.75 Sprint shares for each T-Mobile share.Sprint’s monthly churn -- a closely watched measure of how many customers leave -- has risen to nearly 2%. That means roughly a quarter of its subscriber base is quitting the carrier each year. And the company isn’t making up for the decline by charging more: Average revenue per customer has fallen 5% since the deal was announced.Analysts such as LightShed Partners’ Walt Piecyk said the merger’s exchange ratio should be closer to 12, given Sprint’s deteriorated business.(Updates with valuation detail in third paragraph, updates share prices.)To contact the reporters on this story: Scott Moritz in New York at smoritz6@bloomberg.net;Stefan Nicola in Berlin at snicola2@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net, Jennifer RyanFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
- Barrons.com
Sprint Investors Avoid a Haircut Under Revised Terms of T-Mobile Merger
The revised terms of the company’s $41 billion merger with T-Mobile US spared Sprint public holders, but not SoftBank Group.
- Benzinga
Sprint Trades Higher After Revising Merger Agreement With T-Mobile
Telecom companies Sprint Corp (NYSE: S) and T-Mobile Us Inc (NASDAQ: TMUS) revised the financial terms of their merger agreement Thursday. Sprint shareholders will receive the same exchange ratio as part of the merger agreement, which was settled at 9.75 Sprint shares for one T-Mobile share.
- TheStreet.com
Jim Cramer on Sprint and T-Mobile, and the Coronavirus
It's finally Friday! Let's go over some of the top stories Friday. We're talking about the Sprint & T-Mobile merger, and the coronavirus. Let's Talk About the Coronavirus The virus was the focus of Jim Cramer's Real Money column Friday morning: "What do you do when the coronavirus pretty much plays out as the medical people in the United States said it would? Go back to the words of our very best epidemiologist, Dr.
- Reuters
Global telcos join Alphabet, SoftBank's flying cellphone antenna lobbying effort
Alphabet and SoftBank's attempts to launch flying cellphone antennas high into the atmosphere have received backing from global telcos, energizing lobbying efforts aimed at driving regulatory approval for the emerging technology. Loon, which was spun out of Google parent Alphabet Inc's business incubator, and HAPSMobile, a unit of SoftBank Group Corp's domestic telco, plan to deliver high speed internet to remote areas by flying network equipment at high altitudes. Lobbying efforts by the two firms, which formed an alliance last year, are being joined by companies including aerospace firm Airbus , network vendors Nokia and Ericsson and telcos China Telecom , Deutsche Telekom , Telefonica and Bharti Airtel .
- TheStreet.com
Coronavirus, Tesla, Wells Fargo, Sprint and Dropbox - 5 Things You Must Know Friday
Stock futures decline after the number of new coronavirus cases outside of China spikes; Wells Fargo is close to a settlement over its sales practices; Tesla gets OK to clear trees at the site for its factory in Germany.
- Moody's
SoftBank Group Corp. -- Moody's: SoftBank Group's establishment of new margin loan is credit negative
Moody's Japan K.K. says that SoftBank Group Corp.'s (SBG, Ba1 stable) increasing use of asset-backed financing is credit negative, because it adds leverage and complexity to its capital structure, and potentially lead to a weaker position of other senior debtholders in the event of default. SBG on 19 February announced that its wholly-owned, bankruptcy remote special purpose vehicle (SPV) has signed an agreement with a syndicate of banks to borrow up to JPY500 billion backed by up to 953 million shares of SoftBank Corp., the group's two-third owned mobile telecommunication subsidiary in Japan.
- Bloomberg
SoftBank’s Son to Pitch U.S. Investors Under Cloud of WeWork
(Bloomberg) -- Masayoshi Son will head to New York next month for the first time since the implosion of WeWork, seeking to persuade hedge funds and institutional investors that the fortunes of SoftBank Group Corp. have turned since the disastrous investment.The Japanese billionaire is scheduled to address investors on March 2. There, he could point to the approved sale of Sprint Corp., a rally in Uber Technologies Inc. shares and Elliott Management Corp.’s purchase of SoftBank stock as signs of progress at his company, said people familiar with the plans. It’s unclear where WeWork will fit into the agenda.Within SoftBank, there’s disagreement about how to convey the company’s strategy. Son, 62, is known for his eccentric financial presentations, which have included a “hypothetical illustration” of WeWork profitability and stock photos of ocean waves and calm waters. One memorable slide from 2014 contained only a drawing of a goose and the words: “SoftBank = Goose.” Many staff at headquarters in Tokyo love the founder’s showmanship, but some senior executives are exasperated and argue a clearer and more sober message is needed, said people familiar with internal discussions who asked not to be identified because the matter is private.Ultimately, Son will decide. He has downplayed any pressure from Elliott, a New York-based activist investor that disclosed a nearly $3 billion stake in SoftBank this month. Son called Elliott an “important partner” and said he’s in broad agreement with the investor’s arguments for buybacks and increasing the stock price. Son has signaled less receptiveness to Elliott’s other suggestions: selling more of the stake in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and reining in the Vision Fund, a $100 billion investment vehicle that accounted for more than $10 billion of losses in the past two quarters.In private meetings with SoftBank, Elliott raised issues over the clarity of SoftBank’s strategy, people familiar with the talks said. SoftBank is planning to make hires within its investor relations department to help shape the message to shareholders. SoftBank declined to comment. A spokesperson for Elliott declined to comment.“Right now, serious heat is being applied on Son,” said Justin Tang, head of Asian research at United First Partners in Singapore. “Son has to be seen actually doing something.”Son’s heading into the meeting with one win under his belt: T-Mobile US Inc. and Sprint have agreed to new terms for their pending merger, a key step toward completing a transaction that will unload the loss-making carrier and unlock new capital for SoftBank. Its shares rose as much as 3.3% in Tokyo Friday.T-Mobile, Sprint Renew Deal as Merger Clears Regulatory HurdlesAlthough next month’s event was scheduled before Elliott disclosed its stake and is not designed to specifically address the activist investor’s involvement, it will be a focus for attendees, said people familiar with the preparations. Executives are bracing for questions about Elliott’s intentions and how far the shareholder will go to boost the stock’s value.Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is organizing the March event, the people said. The firm, which helped Japan’s Sony Corp. and Toshiba Corp. in their dealings with activist investors, is vying for the job of advising SoftBank on Elliott, said a different person said. However, SoftBank is likely to manage the relationship in-house, another person said. The job may fall to Marcelo Claure, the chief operating officer who’s helping oversee the WeWork debacle; Katsunori Sago, the chief strategy officer and a former Goldman Sachs executive; or Ron Fisher, a director and trusted adviser to Son. A Goldman representative declined to comment on SoftBank.Dogs and PizzaSoftBank is recovering from a series of stumbles in recent months. WeWork’s plan to go public last year imploded, forcing SoftBank to arrange a rescue financing of $9.5 billion in October. Uber, despite a two-month surge, is still trading about 10% below last year’s offering price. The Vision Fund has suffered other high-profile setbacks, including investments in failed online retailer Brandless Inc., dog-walking app Wag Labs Inc. and pizza robot company Zume Pizza Inc.Elliott has said it took the stake in SoftBank because the Japanese company’s shares are woefully undervalued compared with its assets. Son himself has been pleading the case with increasing frequency. SoftBank’s own sum-of-parts calculation puts its total value at 12,300 yen a share ($111). That’s more than double SoftBank’s actual share price, which values the company at about $104 billion. Elliott has pegged SoftBank’s net asset value at about $230 billion, people familiar with the discussions have said.The disconnect between what SoftBank and Elliott say the company is worth and the market value can be explained by several quirks of how the business is run, according to a report from Pierre Ferragu, an analyst at New Street Research. Many shareholders would like the company to return more capital and improve its governance, he wrote. Risks associated with the Vision Fund and a lack of details about tax liabilities associated with cashing out its investments are other factors.SoftBank recognized the need for more oversight as early as 2018, when it charged Claure with a broad review of operations across SoftBank companies. Claure, the former head of Sprint, spent months assembling a team of about 40 executives. In the end, he was forced to cede control of the so-called SoftBank Operating Group to the man it was supposed to be overseeing: Rajeev Misra, the head of the Vision Fund.Elliott wants SoftBank to set up a special committee to review investment processes at the Vision Fund. Elliott argues the fund has dragged down the share price despite making up a small portion of assets under management, said people familiar with the discussions.Some at SoftBank are resistant to the idea of an oversight committee. Instead, SoftBank is seeking to resolve issues at the Vision Fund with new governance standards for the companies it invests in. The new rules will encompass how the fund approaches the composition of the board of directors, founder and management rights, rights of shareholders, and mitigation of potential conflicts of interest.Son has conceded that missteps with the original fund is making it difficult to raise money for a successor. He said last week that SoftBank may need to invest in startups using solely its own capital for a year or two.‘Black Swan’Elliott is also calling for a buyback of as much as $20 billion. A repurchase of that scale could boost SoftBank’s shares by 40%, Ferragu estimated. SoftBank’s last share repurchase was announced about a year ago, a record 600 billion yen. It sparked a rally that pushed the stock to its highest price in about two decades.Selling Alibaba shares to pay for a buyback, as Elliott has proposed, could be a point of contention with Son. In the past, Son has used the shares as collateral to borrow money for big acquisitions, including the $32 billion purchase of chip designer ARM Holdings. Son said last week during a quarterly financial briefing that he’d prefer to sell as little as possible and that there’s “no rush” to do so.SoftBank said on Wednesday it plans to borrow as much as $4.5 billion against shares of its Japanese telecom unit. The company, which had 3.8 trillion yen of cash and equivalents at the end of December, said it was raising capital for operations. SoftBank’s debt load exceeds $120 billion.Son’s reliance on debt is raising alarms, said Tang, the financial analyst. “He’s going to get wiped out if there is some black swan event,” Tang said. “SoftBank needs to de-leverage, and the best way to do it is to sell the Alibaba stake.”Elliott has a tradition of using strong-arm tactics to get its way with target companies, but there’s little chance of that happening with SoftBank. Elliott’s stake enables it to call an emergency shareholder meeting, but pushing through a proposal without the founder’s backing is a long shot. Son, who often goes by the nickname Masa, controls more than a quarter of SoftBank stock through various vehicles, and the company bylaws require two-thirds of votes to pass any proposal made through the board, according to a person with knowledge of the rules.“Unless everyone is against him,” said Tang, “it’s not possible to dislodge Masa.”(Updates with share action in the seventh paragraph)\--With assistance from Scott Deveau.To contact the reporters on this story: Pavel Alpeyev in Tokyo at palpeyev@bloomberg.net;Giles Turner in London at gturner35@bloomberg.net;Takahiko Hyuga in Tokyo at thyuga@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Peter Elstrom at pelstrom@bloomberg.net, Mark Milian, Colum MurphyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
- TheStreet.com
Sprint Leaps on Amended Merger Deal with T-Mobile
Shares of Sprint S rose in after-hours trading Thursday after the company and T-Mobile announced revised terms of their $26 billion merger agreement which they said could be completed as soon as April 1. Under the revised deal, T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom will hold 43% of the newly created company, while SoftBank, the controlling holder of Sprint, will end up with 24%. Ordinary shareholders will see no difference in the exchange ratio for their stock - 9.75 Sprint shares for each T-Mobile share.
- Bloomberg
Masa and His Bankers Grab a Shared Ride
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. is investing more than $700 million in Southeast Asian ride-hailing giant Grab. It’s a three-way deal in which everyone gets what they currently lack.The Japanese megabank and the Singapore-headquartered “superapp,” a one-stop online shop spanning food to finance, get to plug gaps in their businesses. They also keep one of Grab’s existing backers sweet: Softbank Group Corp.’s founder Masayoshi Son will avoid the possibility of an inconvenient cash call from one of his most promising unicorns.It's no secret that Japanese banks are under pressure to expand overseas as negative interest rates bite at home. Fast-growing Southeast Asia offers an alternative. But there's a catch. Consumer spending in countries like Indonesia, where MUFG owns PT Bank Danamon, is going digital very rapidly — the region’s internet economy is expected to triple to $300 billion by 2025. That’s a lucrative pie for all banks and fintech firms. However, Japan’s banks aren’t exactly known for their digital spurs. Backing Grab gives the biggest Japanese lender a chance to earn them. MUFG intends to market a range of financial services from insurance to loans to Grab’s users, Taiga Uranaka of Bloomberg News reported Wednesday. What’s in it for Grab? After acquiring Uber Technologies Inc.’s Southeast Asian operations two years ago, Grab is transforming itself from a ride-hailing service into an umbrella app with finance at its core. It hopes to pick up an online-only banking license in Singapore this summer. That alone will require Grab and its partner Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. to bring S$1.5 billion ($1.1 billion) in capital. Expanding the model elsewhere will be tricky if the unicorn relies too much on SoftBank and its Vision Fund, which it tapped for $1.5 billion last year.Enter MUFG, which has plenty of capital to underwrite credit risk in Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines — countries where it already controls local retail banks. Those units can score borrowers looking for loans on the Grab app, as well as put up the actual funding. Having the regional network of a deep-pocketed Japanese institution in its corner should help Grab compete better against rival superapp Gojek, which has allied itself with Singapore's largest lender, DBS Group Holdings Ltd.(1)As for SoftBank, there must be huge sighs of relief all around. A core startup in its $100 billion Vision Fund’s portfolio won’t be relying on it for more cash. That’s one less mouth to feed in the wake of disastrous bets like office-sharing group WeWork — on which SoftBank took a $4.6 billion writedown — and dog-walking app Wag. SoftBank last week reported a 99% slump in operating profit for the quarter ended Dec. 31, and unveiled plans Thursday to borrow as much as 500 billion yen ($4.5 billion) by putting up shares of its Japanese telecom unit as collateral. Amid widening losses and mass layoffs at Oyo Hotels and Homes, a big SoftBank bet in India, funding Grab’s ambitious expansion is probably beyond Son’s present reach. And Grab must know that constraint.Yet, as Morningstar Inc. analyst Michael Makdad puts it, SoftBank is one of the biggest corporate borrowers for Japanese banks, one no large lender can afford to ignore or annoy. Writing a check for Grab gives MUFG a welcome chance to iron out any wrinkles from last year when it reportedly balked at contributing to a rescue package for WeWork. Learning new digital banking skills it can bring to its home market will be a bonus. Grab has plenty of room for Masa and his bankers to share the ride. (1) Interestingly, MUFG's leasing affiliate invested an undisclosed sum in Gojek last year.To contact the authors of this story: Nisha Gopalan at ngopalan3@bloomberg.netAndy Mukherjee at amukherjee@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Matthew Brooker at mbrooker1@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.Nisha Gopalan is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering deals and banking. She previously worked for the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones as an editor and a reporter.Andy Mukherjee is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering industrial companies and financial services. He previously was a columnist for Reuters Breakingviews. He has also worked for the Straits Times, ET NOW and Bloomberg News.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
- Benzinga
Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners To Acquire TRAC Intermodal
Private equity firm Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners , which is based in New York City, has signed an agreement to acquire TRAC Intermodal from a Fortress Investment Group affiliate. Financial terms for ...
- Reuters
Tokyo shares close higher as weaker yen lifts automakers; virus caps gains
Japanese stocks ended higher on Thursday as a rapidly weakening yen, which hit a near 10-month low versus the dollar overnight, lifted export-focused automakers, but the gains were capped by concerns over the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. The yen dived to its lowest level since early May versus the dollar of overnight, providing a tailwind for Japanese exporters as a weaker local currency boosts corporate profits when they are repatriated. The Nikkei's heavyweight SoftBank Group climbed 3.4% after the tech conglomerate said it plans to borrow up to 500 billion yen ($4.5 billion) from 16 domestic and foreign financial institutions using almost a third of its stake in telco SoftBank Corp as collateral.
- Reuters
Tokyo stocks rise to one-week high as weaker yen boosts exporters
Japanese shares rallied to a one-week high on Thursday as a rapidly weakening yen, which hit a near 10-month low versus the dollar overnight, lifted wide-ranging exporters, such as automakers. All but four of the 33 sector sub-indexes on the Tokyo Stock Exchange were trading in positive territory, with mining , paper and pulp and transport equipment being the top three performers. The yen dived to its lowest level since early May versus the dollar of 111.60 yen overnight, providing a tailwind for Japanese exporters as a weaker local currency boosts corporate profits when they are repatriated.
- Bloomberg
SoftBank Climbs on Plan to Borrow $4.5 Billion Via Telecom Stock
(Bloomberg) -- SoftBank Group Corp.’s stock climbed after it unveiled plans to borrow as much as 500 billion yen ($4.5 billion) by putting up shares of its Japanese telecom unit as collateral, raising capital for the investment giant’s operations.The money for the two-year loan, which will have a one-year extension option, will come from 16 financial institutions, SoftBank said in a statement. It pledged as much as 953 million shares of SoftBank Corp. and said the money will be used to fund operations. SoftBank Group’s stock rose as much as 3.6% in Tokyo, while the unit’s was little changed.Activist investor Paul Singer this month revealed his firm had acquired a stake of as much as $3 billion in SoftBank and has advocated for a share buyback of as much as $20 billion, along with governance changes and more transparency about its investments. SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son called Singer’s Elliott Management Corp. an “important partner” and said he is in broad agreement with the investor about SoftBank buybacks and share value.SoftBank will need to raise cash to meet those demands. Son is adopting a more conciliatory stance just as he’s struggling with the $100 billion Vision Fund, which made him the biggest investor in technology. The fund lost money in the three months ended in December, one quarter after the meltdown at WeWork triggered a record loss for the Japanese company. Son is trying to raise capital for a second fund, but last week said he is no longer targeting $108 billion and SoftBank may finance the effort on its own.“We sense that the stars are now aligned for the firm to conduct a buyback,” Citigroup Global Markets analyst Mitsunobu Tsuruo wrote. SoftBank “will be in a position to flexibly implement a buyback amounting to” about 5% of its market capitalization.Read more: SoftBank’s Son Considers a ‘Bridge’ Fund Before Vision Fund 2The past 12 months have been tumultuous for Son and SoftBank. A year ago, the company unveiled a record buyback, sparking a rally that pushed shares to the highest since its dot-com peak in 2000. Uber Technologies Inc.’s disappointing public debut and the implosion of WeWork wiped out the gains over the next few months. But SoftBank surged again this month after Singer disclosed his stake and Son won approval to sell his Sprint Corp. to T-Mobile US Inc.SoftBank has 13.75 trillion yen of interest-bearing debt, with more than 2.6 trillion yen of bonds coming due in the next three years. The company also had 3.8 trillion yen of cash and equivalents as of the end of December.To contact the reporter on this story: Pavel Alpeyev in Tokyo at palpeyev@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Peter Elstrom at pelstrom@bloomberg.net, Edwin Chan, Colum MurphyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
- Bloomberg
Fortress Said to Increase Offer to Purchase Mt. Gox Claims
(Bloomberg) -- Fortress Investment Group LLC increased its offer to purchase creditor claims from the defunct Mt. Gox cryptocurrency exchange in the wake of this year’s Bitcoin rally.The private-equity and hedge-fund firm sent letters this week to creditors offering $1,300 per Bitcoin, or 88% of its estimated account value, according to the one-page proposal, which Bloomberg News obtained from a person who said they weren’t authorized to speak on the matter. In December, the firm offered $755, and when Bitcoin traded lower, it dropped the price to as little as $600 per Bitcoin last March.Based in Japan, Mt. Gox was once the world’s biggest Bitcoin exchange, until it closed in early 2014 after losing the coins of thousands of customers. Thousands of Bitcoins have since been found, and a trustee is working to reimburse creditors. The reimbursement is being delayed by lawsuits.Michael Hourigan, a managing director at Fortress, said in the letter that firm is making the discount offer “due to the likely timeline (3 to 5 years) and financial risk of the ongoing litigations” involved in getting money from Mt. Gox.Bitcoin has rallied about 40% since the beginning of the year to cross $10,000.To contact the reporter on this story: Olga Kharif in Portland at okharif@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Jeremy Herron at jherron8@bloomberg.net, Dave Liedtka, Rita NazarethFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
- Bloomberg
Japan’s Largest Bank Invests Over $700 Million in Grab
(Bloomberg) -- Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. is investing more than $700 million in Southeast Asian ride-hailing giant Grab, gaining access to millions across the region that use the mobile app to book cars and meals.The Japanese financial institution intends to market a range of financial services from insurance to loans to Grab’s users, said a person familiar with the deal who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.Grab, one of several ride-hailing giants backed by SoftBank Group Corp., is trying to build a regional super-app that offers a range of services including finance, payments and rides. The startup, one of Southeast Asia’s largest, doesn’t disclose its number of users -- which include many for food delivery -- but said its app has been downloaded onto more than 166 million mobile devices in the region. The car-hailing giant, which has taken in more than $2.6 billion from SoftBank alone, is on the hunt for more capital as it builds out and markets new services.MUFG and Grab intend to announce their alliance soon, the Nikkei reported earlier, citing unidentified people. A Grab representative had no immediate comment when contacted.Japan’s most valuable lender has been trying to build up its franchise in Southeast Asia, which it sees as an important growth driver to offset a slowing domestic market. Last year, the lender completed the takeover of PT Bank Danamon Indonesia. Incoming Chief Executive Officer Hironori Kamezawa, who was named to the top post last month, is now leading the bank’s digital efforts.Earlier this month, MUFG posted its first quarterly loss in a decade and cut its annual profit forecast after booking a hefty charge on the Indonesian acquisition. Lending profitability is under pressure as Japan heads into its fifth year of negative interest rates. Even so, MUFG’s rivals Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. and Mizuho Financial Group Inc. eked out higher profits last quarter after seeing gains from lending income.MUFG Posts First Quarterly Loss in Decade on Danamon Charge (1)(Updates with details on MUFG from the fifth paragraph)\--With assistance from Yoolim Lee.To contact the reporter on this story: Taiga Uranaka in Tokyo at turanaka@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Candice Zachariahs at czachariahs2@bloomberg.net, Edwin Chan, Marcus WrightFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
- Reuters
SoftBank to borrow $4.5 billion pledging domestic telco's shares
SoftBank Group Corp said on Wednesday it plans to borrow up to 500 billion yen ($4.5 billion) from 16 domestic and foreign financial institutions using almost a third of its stake in telco SoftBank Corp as collateral. The loan, which a company spokeswoman said will be used to boost the group's cash on hand and for general business purposes, comes as SoftBank's finances are under pressure on multiple fronts. SoftBank is offering a 20% stake in the telco as collateral for the two-year loan with an option to extend for a further year.
- Reuters
SoftBank-backed South Korean ride-hailer Tada gets rare win amid crackdown
South Korea's ride-hailing service Tada, a smash hit since its launch just over a year ago, was cleared of transport law violations in court on Wednesday, a rare victory in a market that has been particularly unkind to ride-hailing companies. Since starting up in late 2018, Tada has won 1.7 million users as it capitalised on growing demand and the funding muscle of its Japanese backer SoftBank Group Corp . South Korea restricts ride-hailing to only licenced taxis and bans the use of private cars for the purpose.
