World’s second-largest IPO a ‘flop’ for SoftBank

Shares of SoftBank Corp, involved in Japan’s largest-ever initial public offering (IPO), have plummeted after the stock made a dismal debut on the Tokyo stock exchange.

SoftBank Corp is the mobile telecommunications arm of Japan’s SoftBank Group, run by billionaire chief executive Masayoshi Son.

The IPO reportedly raised more than £18.6 billion pounds, before shares in the company opened the day 6.4% lower, before falling to finish 14.5% down by the end of the day.

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Prior to the listing, SoftBank had “increased the amount of stock sold by 160 million shares in a response to strong demand”, CNBC says.

However, analysts have pointed to two factors that may have hurt investor sentiment after the shares were made public.

“There was a disruption in its network early this month as well as Huawei’s issues. There hasn’t been good news involving SoftBank recently,” said Mr Tetsuro Ii, chief executive officer at Commons Asset Management, told the Straits Times.

The SoftBank IPO was the second-largest in the world, only a short distance behind Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba’s debut on the New York Stock Exchange, which had raised around £19.8 billion.