Japan telecom SoftBank Corp CEO sees Elliott investment as ‘positive’

TOKYO: Japanese telecom SoftBank Corp’s CEO Ken Miyauchi on Friday welcomed hedge fund Elliott Management’s investment in parent SoftBank Group Corp saying the activist investor’s assessment of the stock as undervalued was “positive”.

Elliott has built up a roughly 3% stake in the tech conglomerate and is pushing for changes to boost its value including strengthening corporate governance and share buybacks, sources said.

Elliott “thinks the company valuation is too low so in that sense it is currently a positive for SoftBank Group,” Miyauchi said, adding he believed corporate governance at the telco he heads was already strong.