SoftBank shares breach Y10,000, scale 2-decade high, on record Vision Fund profit (updated)
09/02/2021 04:11
(Adds analyst comment)
By Sam Nussey
TOKYO, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Japan's SoftBank Group Corp
9984.T shares climbed above 10,000 yen apiece on Tuesday,
hitting two-decade highs, a day after the group's Vision Fund
unit reported record profits as portfolio company listings
accelerate.
SoftBank's shares were up 3.3% at Y9,800 at 03:56 GMT having
earlier shot past Y10,000, the biggest intraday jump in two
months. On Monday SoftBank reported a bounce back in the value
of its portfolio after startups like home-selling platform
Opendoor OPEN.O went public. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2KE0B4
With equity raising running at record levels, major assets
from the first $100 billion Vision Fund portfolio expected to go
public include ride-hailing firms Didi and Grab. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2HB1SF
L1N2JT0HC
The Japanese conglomerate is "effectively owner of the most
lucrative portfolio amidst an ongoing retail IPO frenzy,"
Jefferies analyst Atul Goyal wrote in a note, referring to
initial public offerings.
Most of the value of the first fund is locked up in a small
number of large assets, which also include e-commerce firm
Coupang and TikTok-owner Bytedance, in contrast to smaller bets
by Vision Fund 2.
Frothy markets have seen the value of many of SoftBank's
assets, or "golden eggs" as Chief Executive Officer Masayoshi
Son termed them on Monday, climb with the value of its assets
standing at $221 billion at the end of December.
That is $37 billion lower than three months earlier after
the share price of Son's largest "egg", Alibaba 9988.HK ,
tumbled following the regulatory halt of the IPO of its fintech
affiliate Ant in November.
"The explosion in market liquidity over the last 9-10 months
has played a huge role and we believe SoftBank success
correlates closely with how U.S. tech trades going forward,"
Redex Research analyst Kirk Boodry wrote in a note.
Japan's benchmark share index .N225 was trading at a
30-year high on Tuesday after Wall Street closed at an all-time
high overnight.
SoftBank "looks overvalued at current levels but we would
expect a turnaround only if the tech market cools off,"
Morningstar analyst Dan Baker wrote in a note.
(Reporting by Sam Nussey; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell & Shri
Navaratnam)
((sam.nussey@tr.com; https://twitter.com/SamNusseyRTRS;
+81345632760;))