The Japanese operator plans to hire Goldman Sachs, Nomura and Deutsche Bank to lead the IPO process
Japanese telecommunications group SoftBank has appointed three banks to lead the planned listing of its Japanese mobile business, international press reported.
According to the report, SoftBank expects the process to be fully completed in December. SoftBank is set to appoint Goldman Sachs, Nomura and Deutsche Bank as lead underwriters for the IPO, the Financial Times reported, citing sources close to the involved banks.
SoftBank is expected to name at least four other Japanese banks and brokerage firms to coordinate the IPO.
In August, international press reported said SoftBank was considering seeking a valuation of about $90 billion for its domestic wireless business through the IPO. According to the reports, SoftBank is speaking to advisers about selling a third of the business, or $30 billion, in the IPO.
SoftBank Founder and Chairman Masayoshi Son said in an investor presentation on August 6 that the telco is working toward a listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
SoftBank is very active in the 5G testing field. The Japanese telco has inked a partnership with Huawei to demonstrate potential 5G use cases for its enterprise partners. A demonstration included real-time ultra-high-definition video transmission using ultra-high throughput, remote control of a robotic arm using ultra-low latency transmission and remote rendering via a GPU server using edge computing.
SoftBank has been also working with Ericsson in the execution of trials in Japan. In September 2017, the two companies announced plans to conduct a joint trial of 5G in the 4.5 GHz band in urban areas of Tokyo. This 5G trial included two new radios, virtualized radio access network and evolved packet core RAN, beamforming, massive MIMO functionality and support services.
In August, the Asian market saw another key IPO, with Chinese state-owned telecommunications tower company China Tower raising $6.9 billion. The IPO valued the world’s largest telecoms tower operator at about $27.6 billion.
Ten investors including Hillhouse Capital, Och-Ziff Capital Management Group and Alibaba Group Holding agreed to buy a combined $1.4 billion of shares in the IPO, according to the report.
China Tower plans to use 60% of the IPO proceeds to build towers and update existing infrastructure, as it accelerates 5G network construction. The company will use the remainder for loan repayment and general working capital.
