SoftBank Group Corp. is tapping Japan’s retail investors for its largest-ever bond issuance as the technology conglomerate seeks to manage its debt obligations and finalize its acquisition of chip designer Arm Holdings.
The Tokyo-based company plans to raise ¥600 billion ($4 billion) through five-year bonds carrying interest rates between 3% and 3.6%, according to Monday’s filing with the Kanto Local Finance Bureau. The bonds will be issued on May 2 after a subscription period running from April 21.
SoftBank will use the proceeds to redeem existing retail bonds and cover remaining payments for its August 2023 acquisition of a 25% stake in Arm from its Vision Fund unit. That transaction gave SoftBank full ownership of the chip designer ahead of Arm’s $65 billion Nasdaq debut in September 2023.
The record retail issuance comes just days after founder Masayoshi Son led a $40 billion funding round in OpenAI, with SoftBank contributing $30 billion. The company has approximately ¥7 trillion ($47.8 billion) in outstanding bonds, according to market data.
Nomura Securities, Daiwa Securities, SBI Securities and Mizuho Securities are among the 11 underwriters for the offering. Final terms will be determined on April 18.
