TOKYO, Apr 05 (News On Japan) - Rakuten Group has announced its decision to issue new dollar-denominated bonds worth approximately 300 billion yen ($2.7 billion), aiming to refinance the debt incurred from previous investments in mobile telecommunications infrastructure.
The newly issued bonds will carry an annual interest rate of 9.75% and are set to mature in five years, totaling $2 billion, or roughly 300 billion yen.
Rakuten has largely financed its extensive investments in mobile network infrastructure, which exceeded 1 trillion yen, through the issuance of corporate bonds. With approximately 220 billion yen in bonds due for repayment this year and an additional 470 billion yen next year, Rakuten faces a total repayment deadline of around 700 billion yen in the near future.
For this year's repayments, Rakuten has already secured the necessary funds. The capital raised from this new bond issue is expected to be used for repaying next year's debts.
In February, Rakuten had already issued dollar-denominated bonds worth approximately 270 billion yen ($2.4 billion) at an interest rate of 11.25%. The company aims to diversify the maturity dates of its upcoming bond repayments and temporarily alleviate the financial burden on its balance sheet with this strategy.
Source: TBS
