TOKYO, April 12 (IFR) - SoftBank Group has raised ¥500bn (US$4.47bn) from its biggest retail bond, once again turning to Japanese savers to lock in low-cost funding.
The six-year retail bonds, priced at par, carry a 1.64% coupon, just above the mid-point of the initial guidance range of 1.30%-1.90%.
The group's latest retail issue underlines the continued appeal of the SoftBank brand in Japan, where individual investors have bankrolled much of its expansion in recent years.
In addition to this, its mobile phone unit raised ¥2.6trn from last year's IPO, sold mainly to Japanese retail buyers.
Of the proceeds of the new trade, ¥300bn will be allocated to refinance bonds maturing on May 30, and the rest will be used to refinance debt maturing in September.
Nomura underwrote 28.84% of the issue, Daiwa 18%, SMBC Nikko 16%, Mizuho and Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley 12% each, SBI Securities 8%, and the rest was taken by five other brokerages. Underwriting fees are a quite rich 125bp.
The bonds are rated A- by JCR.
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