Sprint acquisition approval, good news for Softbank G Son president-surge for the first time in a year

SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son is pleased to hear that US law enforcement has approved the acquisition of Sprint by T-Mobile US. It seems to be SoftBank G shares soared for the first time in a year.

On the 12th, the Softbank G shares started with a buying quote, and after the transaction was completed, it rose sharply to 5871 yen, a temporary 14% increase for the 6th consecutive day. The rate of increase was the first since February 7 (18%) last year, when the stock buyback was announced, and has recovered to the highest level since July of the same year.

On the 11th, the US District Court in New York City approved T-Mobile US's $26.5 billion (approximately 2.9 trillion yen) acquisition of Sprint. Lawsuits filed by several states to block the takeover were won by T-Mobile, parent company Deutsche Telekom and SoftBank Group, which owns Sprint. Sprint's shares soared 78% in Thursday's trading, and the U.S. stock market also appreciated the material.

When completed, the deal will remove approximately $40 billion of net debt from Son's balance sheet. For Son, it will give him more flexibility to buy back shares and secure capital for the $108 billion Vision Fund 2, which he announced last July.

Nomura Securities analyst Daisaku Masuno said in a report on the 12th that the company believes the likelihood of a merger going through has risen to 80%. The rise in Sprint's shares is "positive for the SoftBank Group," and if it goes through, it will remove debt from its balance sheet and reduce credit risk.

On the other hand, Hiroyuki Nishikawa, Senior Analyst at S&P Global Ratings, said, "Somewhat positive for creditworthiness, but the impact is limited." Although the merger of T-Mobile and Sprint will increase the value of investment assets, it is said to be only 10% of total assets.

The combined company will operate under the name T-Mobile. It has about 80 million monthly cell phone subscribers, surpassing AT&T's 75 million and approaching Verizon Communications' 114 million.

T-Mobile COO Mike Siebert said in a statement that the two companies aim to complete the merger as early as April 1. Completion of the merger, however, involves court proceedings and unresolved issues between the two companies.