After its debut on the Tokyo stock market, shares in Softbank sank 14.5% from the price set for the initial public offering.
It was Japan’s biggest ever IPO, where the group raised 2.6 trillion yen ($23 billion; £18 billion) after pricing the offering at 1,500 yen a share.
David Kuo, a market-expert based in Singapore, said: “Softbank wasn’t as popular an [initial public offering] as the market had expected. It was oversubscribed, but not as much as hoped.”
Softbank was founded by Masayoshi Son, the richest person in Japan. Although it was founded as a telecoms company, the group has expanded into robotics and has also invested in ride-sharing firms and satellite start-ups.
Professor at the school of management and information at the University of Shizuoka, Sejiro Takeshita, said the slump in shares was due to the group’s growth strategy.
“One big worry among investors is the musical chair game that Soft Bank has been playing on, growth after growth, expansion after expansion – they are all worried when the music will stop,” he said.
“It hasn’t. But if you look at the external environment of the telecommunications side, in Japan … growth is definitely winding down,” he said. “And you’ve got pressure from the competition and you’ve got the government trying to lower prices – so you’ve got a lot of pressure surrounding this industry as a whole.”
Shares in Softbank (TYO: 9984) are currently trading -0.91% at 8.184 (0942GMT).
