By Miho Uranaka
TOKYO (Reuters) -Japanese e-commerce conglomerate Rakuten Group has raised the size of a planned dollar-denominated 3-year senior note issuance to $1.75 billion from $1 billion, according to a source close to the deal.
The increase will allow the company to fully buy back its 10.25% senior notes and 3.546% senior notes due in 2024, which have a combined principal outstanding of $1.75 billion.
Rakuten announced tender offers to buy back the notes last Friday with a combined cap of $1 billion, but the company said on Tuesday it was now “extending the offers to any and all outstanding Notes of either series”.
Including the notes due in 2024, the group has a total of 800 billion yen ($5.4 billion) in debt redemptions due by the end of 2025. The debt was amassed as the cost of building out Japan’s fourth mobile network carrier spiralled.
In addition to refinancing its debt, Rakuten has also listed its banking unit, sold off assets and issued new shares to shore up its finances.
The new issue will have an interest rate of around 12.25% and terms are set to be finalised in the morning of Jan. 30, U.S. Eastern time, according to the source, who was not authorised to speak publicly on the matter.
Representatives for Rakuten did not comment on the expanded note issuance, and said they had nothing to add to Tuesday’s announcement of the increased buyback offer.
News of the increase to the issue was first reported by Bloomberg.
($1 = 147.2700 yen)
(Reporting by Miho Uranaka and Anton Bridge; Writing by Anton Bridge; Editing by Tom Hogue, Edwina Gibbs and Sonali Paul)
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