Moody’s: SoftBank unaffected

Moody's Japan K.K. said that the ratings of SoftBank Group Corp. (Ba1 stable) will not be immediately impacted following its announcement to buy back its own shares.

On Feb. 15, SoftBank said it planed to buy back up to 14.2% of its outstanding shares for a maximum ¥500 billion (around $4.4 billion) through February 2017.

"The share buyback is credit negative because this will consume a portion of cash on hand and /or liquid assets, which we consider to be important rating factors," Motoki Yanase, Moody's vice president and lead analyst for SoftBank, said in a news release.

"However, there is no immediate impact on SoftBank's rating or outlook, because the company does not intend to fund the share buyback with incremental debt."

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.