Shares of SoftBank Group Corp. (TYO:9984) surged more than 10% on Tuesday following the company’s announcement of plans to raise 600 billion yen ($4.1 billion) through a retail bond issuance, marking its largest-ever bond offering.
The Japanese technology conglomerate intends to use the proceeds to redeem existing bonds and partially fund the acquisition of shares in chip designer Arm Holdings (NASDAQ:ARM) from its Vision Fund, a transaction completed in August 2023.
The bonds, maturing in May 2030, are expected to yield between 3% and 3.6%, with the final rate to be determined on April 18, the company said.
Tokyo-listed SoftBank shares jumped 11.1% to 6,493 yen as of 04:57 GMT. Japan’s broader Nikkei 225 index was up 6%.
The company’s move underscores SoftBank’s strategy of leveraging debt to finance investments, a hallmark of founder and CEO Masayoshi Son’s approach. Recently, SoftBank led a $40 billion funding round for ChatGPT operator OpenAI, committing $30 billion of the total.
