Son Cuts SoftBank Shares Pledged to Lenders by $1 Billion

Takahiko Hyuga and Pei Yi Mak, Bloomberg News

Masayoshi Son, chairman and chief executive officer of SoftBank Group Corp., listens during a news conference in Tokyo, Japan, on Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2020. In a sign of continuing struggles with its startup investments, SoftBank lost money again in its Vision Fund, one quarter after the Japanese company posted a record quarterly loss driven by the meltdown at WeWork. , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Masayoshi Son has reduced the number of SoftBank Group Corp. shares he’s pledged as collateral to lenders by about $1 billion, cutting back after heavy borrowing had raised questions about the stability of his technology empire.

Son trimmed his committed shares by about 18 million to 208.7 million, according to a regulatory filing. The Japanese billionaire holds about 562 million shares directly and indirectly, which are worth $32.5 billion before taking into account collateral.

Son has revived SoftBank’s fortunes after the stock plunged in March because of business missteps and concerns about the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on his portfolio of startups. SoftBank has since embarked on record assets sales and stock buybacks, helping more than double the share price from a low six months ago.

The SoftBank founder was asked about the issue in May and he said he had borrowed about 500 billion yen ($4.7 billion) against stock worth more than 2 trillion yen.

“It’s about 20% of what I own so I don’t think it’s a big problem,” he said at the time.

A SoftBank spokesman declined to comment further. The shares rose 1.5% in Tokyo trading on Friday.

It’s not unusual for top executives to borrow against their shares. As of June 30 though, Son had committed about 40% of his equity to lenders, among the highest pledges, according to regulatory filings reviewed for the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Son has pledged the most shares to Credit Suisse Group AG and Daiwa Securities Group Inc., followed by more than a dozen other banks, according to the filing. Bank of Singapore was added as a lender since March, with 4.72 million shares committed.

One analyst took the filing to mean that Son is unlikely to attempt taking SoftBank private, an idea that resurfaced in recent weeks as the company sold assets and raised cash.

“Now we hear he is cutting his shares pledged to lenders,” said Amir Anvarzadeh, a market strategist at Asymmetric Advisors in Singapore. “If there was going to be a buyout for this Y12trn market cap name, surely he would need as much leverage as he can get his hands on.”

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Separately, Son cut back on the stock that he has loaned out to financial institutions, reducing the total to about 100 million shares from 145.5 million in March.

While the two figures are often mixed together, the transactions serve different purposes. An executive like Son would typically pledge shares as collateral to receive cash from financial institutions, perhaps to avoid the taxes or loss of control that come with selling shares.

On the other hand, he might lend stock to financial institutions for a return to increase market liquidity. The institutions may work with short sellers, for example, who are betting on a decline in the price.

The result typically is that shares loaned out by an executive don’t have the same kind of risk as shares pledged as collateral. An equity holder like Son can reclaim the former without having to repay loans.

(Updates with Son comment from fifth paragraph)