SoftBank Group, the parent company of Sprint, is weighing whether or not to offer shares in its own Japan-based wireless company.
Under the direction of CEO Masayoshi Sun, SoftBank has transformed itself in recent years into an investor in technology companies. The goal of the IPO would be to raise about $18 billion in funds so SoftBank Group could continue to invest in other entities. SoftBank Corp., the wireless company in question, is Japan’s third-largest provider of wireless services behind KDDI and NTT DoCoMo.
SoftBank is exploring a fall listing on the Tokyo stock exchange and may also list sales in London. The plans are not final and may change. The potential IPO should not impact SoftBank’s ownership and management of Sprint.
SoftBank also has large investments in Uber, Alibaba and ARM Holdings.
