From Nikkei Asia, August 18:
Funds to be used for more acquisitions in physical AI
TOKYO -- SoftBank Group is planning to issue around 1 trillion yen ($6.26 billion) of corporate bonds aimed at retail investors in Japan, Nikkei learned Tuesday. The bond sale is expected to be the largest-ever retail issue by a Japanese company.
As competition to invest in artificial intelligence heats up globally, the Japanese technology conglomerate aims to raise funds from Japan's abundant pool of personal wealth.
This will be the third retail bond offering by SoftBank Group (SBG) this year, following earlier issues in April and June. The debt will be in the form of seven-year bonds. The terms, including the interest rate, will be decided in early September. Analysts expect the rate to be in the upper 4% range.
The planned offering will surpass the previous record for a single issuance of corporate bonds for retail investors, at 600 billion yen in 2025 by SBG.
Including bonds for institutional investors such as pension funds and mutual funds, the largest corporate bond issuance was 1 trillion yen by NTT Finance, a subsidiary of telecom group NTT, in December 2020. The latest SBG bond would match the scale of such offering.
SBG is expected to use the funds raised for bond redemptions and investment in physical AI, including corporate acquisitions. The company has announced plans to buy the robotics division of Swiss engineering company ABB for $5.4 billion.
The proceeds could be used to repay bridge loans raised from Japanese and U.S. financial institutions to fund additional investment in American artificial intelligence research organization OpenAI. SBG plans to deploy a total of 10 trillion yen by October....
....MUCH MORE
Two quick points:
1) Mr. Son is right about physical AI.
2) The guy loves him some leverage.
As noted in 2025's "From Insull to Injury: A Study in Financial Jugglery":
I've mentioned Sam Insull a few times, usually as a proto-
Which included a back-link to, among other self-reverential hyperlinks:
SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son Sees AI Evolving To A Point Where Your Happiness Will Be its Greatest Reward
Having observed Mr. Son and his position in the parade—from Drum Majorette leading the way, to being the guy cleaning up after the elephants, and then back to the front— we had this introduction in February 2024:
Since the time he almost went broke after the dot.bomb bubble burst (he had briefly been the richest person in the world) I've come to realize this guy isn't some great visionary/grand strategist; he's just leveraged beta. Making big bets, all geared up, on whatever is at the head of the passing parade.
That said, he owns 90% of ARM Holdings and I don't.
Bastard.
