SoftBank, Japan's third largest mobile carrier, is seeking to further expand its influence beyond the borders of its home country, and the Japanese government is eager to lend them a hand. 300 billion yen (approx. $3B USD) has been set aside and promised to the company for the purpose of new foreign acquisitions and investments.
Much of the money will be used for refinancing the company as it recovers from purchasing 70 percent of Sprint back in July, according to the Japanese business magazine Nikkei. The $21.6B purchase was the largest foreign acquisition to ever occur in Japan, and SoftBank has turned to nearly 20 different banks to help pay off the purchase.
Both the Japan Bank for International Cooperation and Development Bank of Japan are preparing to make the offer, Nikkei claims. Private banks Muzuho Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp are also set to pitch in.
Analysts in Japan have questioned the move seeing how the company is already indebted and recently had its status downgraded. SoftBank president Masayoshi Son has argued in favor of his business practices, citing the bank's willingness to loan him money as evidence.
SoftBank is currently set to see another huge fall season with the release of the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c on hand. However, with rivals KDDI au and NTT DoCoMo now providing the phone to its customers, it remains to be seen how SoftBank will be affected after losing total exclusivity to the phone.
