Bonds
SoftBank Sets 4.75% Coupon on ¥1 Trillion Seven-Year Bond
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SoftBank Group Corp. on September 4, 2026, set the final terms for its 70th unsecured straight corporate bond, a 1 trillion yen, seven-year offering in Japan aimed mainly at individual investors and known as the “Fukuoka SoftBank HAWKS Bond,” fixing the interest rate at 4.75% per annum.
The company said proceeds from the bond will be allocated to the redemption of domestic bonds and to partially fund its acquisition of ABB Ltd’s (ABBN.SW ) robotics business, a transaction SoftBank agreed to in October 2025 for a total purchase price of 5.375 billion U.S. dollars.
Final Terms and Structure
The bond carries a denomination of 1 million yen per unit. Both the issue price and the redemption price were set at 100% of the denomination. The seven-year bond matures on September 16, 2033, and will be redeemed in full upon maturity, though SoftBank may also repurchase and redeem it at any time commencing from the first day following the closing date, subject to requirements of the book-entry transfer institution.
Interest payment dates fall on March 17 and September 17 of each year. The offering period runs from September 7, 2026, to September 16, 2026, with an issue date of September 17, 2026. The bond is being sold through a public offering in Japan, with offerees consisting mainly of individual investors.
No collateral is set up for the bond, no assets are specifically reserved to secure it, and it carries no guarantee. Its covenants consist of a negative pledge clause, a clause for transformation from unsecured to secured status, and a net worth maintenance clause. The bond received a credit rating of A from Japan Credit Rating Agency, Ltd., and Aozora Bank, Ltd. serves as trustee.
Eleven underwriters are named on the transaction: Nomura Securities Co., Ltd.; Daiwa Securities Co. Ltd.; SMBC Nikko Securities Inc.; Mizuho Securities Co., Ltd.; Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley (MS ) Securities Co., Ltd.; SBI SECURITIES Co., Ltd.; Okasan Securities Co., Ltd.; IwaiCosmo Securities Co., Ltd.; Tokai Tokyo Securities Co., Ltd.; Mito Securities Co., Ltd.; and Nishi-Nippon City Tokai Tokyo Securities Co., Ltd.
SoftBank stated that the yen-denominated bond is intended to be directed into Japan and its residents in accordance with Japanese law, customary practices, and documentation. The bond has not been registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933 and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from registration requirements, the company said.
SoftBank also said it will present an “Otosan (Father of Shirato Family) Cheer Captain Side Pocket Tote Bag” to all purchasers of the bond during the offering period, with shipping to begin sequentially in late February 2027.
Pricing Background and Use of Proceeds
The pricing followed an August 24, 2026, announcement that SoftBank had filed an Amendment to Shelf Registration Statement for the proposed issuance, disclosing a preliminary interest-rate range of 4.30% to 4.90% per annum and stating that final terms were expected to be determined on September 4, 2026. The final 4.75% rate sits within that disclosed range. The 1 trillion yen size, seven-year term, September 16, 2033, maturity date, and A credit rating were unchanged from the August announcement, which had listed the rating as planned.
On the funding side, SoftBank entered into a definitive agreement with ABB on October 8, 2025 (Central European Time), to acquire ABB’s robotics business for a total purchase price of $5.375 billion, approximately 818.7 billion yen when converted at 152.31 yen per dollar, according to the company’s acquisition announcement. Under the transaction structure, ABB will carve out its robotics business into a newly established holding company based in Zürich, Switzerland, and SoftBank plans to acquire all shares of that holding company through a subsidiary.
The acquisition was approved by SoftBank’s board through a resolution dated September 22, 2025 (Japan time). It remains subject to customary regulatory approvals, including in the European Union, China, and the United States, and the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions. SoftBank expects the acquisition to close in mid-to-late 2026.
ABB, in its own announcement, described the transaction as a divestment of its Robotics division for an enterprise value of $5.375 billion and said it would not pursue its earlier intention to spin off the business as a separately listed company. ABB stated that the division has a workforce of approximately 7,000 and that, with 2024 revenues of $2.3 billion, it represented about 7 percent of ABB Group revenues and had an Operational EBITA margin of 12.1 percent. ABB said it would report the division as discontinued operations beginning in the fourth quarter of 2025 and expected the divestment to result in a non-operational pre-tax book gain of approximately $2.4 billion upon closing, with expected cash proceeds net of transaction costs of approximately $5.3 billion.
“SoftBank’s next frontier is Physical AI,” Masayoshi Son, Chairman & CEO of SoftBank Group, said in the acquisition announcement. SoftBank stated that the acquisition is part of its strategy of investing in artificial intelligence and is expected to significantly strengthen its AI robotics business, complementing existing robotics-related investments that include SoftBank Robotics Group Corp., Berkshire Grey, Inc., AutoStore Holdings Ltd., Agile Robots SE, and Skild AI, Inc.
