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Tuesday, December 18, 2018

Softbank unit begins trading in Tokyo, marking Japan's largest-ever IPO

Shares of SoftBank Corp began trading on Wednesday in Japan's biggest-ever IPO and one of the world's largest with shares opening 6.40 percent lower.

The company is the mobile unit of billionaire Masayoshi Son's SoftBank Group holding company, which includes U.S. telecoms company Sprint. The group also holds significant stakes in Yahoo Japan and Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group.

SoftBank Corp raised 2.65 trillion yen ($23.5 billion) after pricing the offering at 1,500 yen a share and increased the amount of stock sold by 160 million shares in a response to strong demand, Reuters reported.

That makes it Japan's biggest IPO and just below Alibaba's record $25 billion listing on Wall Street in 2014, according to Reuters.

Shortly after the start of trading, Softbank shares were at 1,404.00 yen.

Softbank is Japan's third-largest mobile phone company after leaders NTT Docomo and KDDI, but concerns are rising over saturation in the market as online retailer Rakuten has also obtained a mobile license and is set to begin offering services in October of next year.

Japan's mobile telecoms market is the world's third largest and the government has been pressuring companies to lower prices for their services.

The listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange also comes as Son, one of the tech world's most powerful people, makes waves with his $100 billion Vision Fund.

It was established in October 2016 and is aimed at boosting promising businesses in the technology sector.

"IPO proceeds will supplement the holding company's liquidity, although a large part of proceeds to SoftBank may eventually be used to fund its remaining capital commitments to the SoftBank Vision Fund (SVF), which continues to invest in internet and emerging technology businesses," Moody's Investors Service said in a report last month.

The fund, which describes itself as "designed to be a catalyst for technology progress," has invested in in companies such as Nauto and Brain Corp, which is building self-driving "brains" for robots, and ride-hailing giant Uber.

Aside from SoftBank Group, other major investors in the fund include Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and the United Arab Emirates' Mubadala Investment Company.

— CNBC's Akiko Fujita contributed to this report.

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