SoftBank to borrow up to $4.5 bn using domestic telco’s shares as collateral

SoftBank Group Corp. plans to borrow as much as 500 billion yen ($4.5 billion) by putting up shares of its Japanese telecom unit as collateral, raising capital for the investment giant’s operations.

The money for the two-year loan, which will have a one-year extension option, will come from 16 financial institutions, SoftBank said in a statement on Wednesday. It pledged as much as 953 million shares of SoftBank Corp. and said the money will be used to fund operations.

Activist investor Paul Singer this month revealed his firm had acquired a stake of as much as $3 billion in SoftBank and has advocated for a share buyback of as much as $20 billion, along with governance changes and more transparency about its investments.