Streaksai Regulatory News (STK)

4 Oct 2006 08:35

Softbank Corp04 October 2006 Update of the status of refinancing associated with Vodafone K.K. acquisition September 29, 2006 BB Mobile Corp. (head office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; Representative: Masayoshi Son;hereinafter "BBM") and Vodafone K.K. (head office: Minato-ku, Tokyo;Representative: Masayoshi Son; hereinafter "SBM" (Vodafone K.K. will change itstrade name to SOFTBANK MOBILE Corp. as of Oct 1, 2006.)), which are wholly-ownedsubsidiaries of SOFTBANK CORP. (hereinafter "SOFTBANK"), entered into a bridgedfacility agreement of 1.28 trillion yen in total with 17 financial institutionson April 27, 2006 to finance acquisition of SBM. BBM has a short-term loanbased on this agreement and decided to adopt a financing method of wholebusiness securitization (WBS*) as a result of examining refinancing of therelevant loan in order to shift to a permanent loan and to achievediversification. Repayment with greater assurance will be realized based oncashflow to be generated by mobile communications business through adopting thismethod. This will bring a higher rating that leads to reduction in financingcost compared with usual loans. The outline of the relevant refinancing scheme is as stated as below. Whendetails are finalized, updated information will be promptly announced. 1. Refinancing scheme Financing through securitization of mobile communications business (WBS)2. Debtor SOFTBANK MOBILE Corp.3. Planned aggregate 1,450 billion yen in total principle amount Class A: 1,150 billion yen Class B: 300 billion yen4. Maximum borrowing Class A: 10 years period Class B: 13 years5. Rating Planned to acquire ratings from Standard & Poor's, Moody's and Japan Credit Rating Agency, Ltd. (JCR)6. Participating Citibank N.A. Tokyo Branch, Deutsche Securities Inc., Mizuho Corporate Bank, institutions (planned)Ltd., and other financial institutions7. Financial covenants Covenants set on business, financial performance and other relative matters.8. Pledged asset All assets of SBM in principle (including BBM shares held by Mobiletech Corporation, SOFTBANK's wholly-owned subsidiary, and SBM shares held by BBM)9. Signing date Planned to be around mid-November 200610. Implementation date Planned to be around late November 200611. Purpose for funds Repayment of short-term borrowings based on the bridged facility agreement and others. The conditions stated above are as of today and there may be some changessubject to the situation going forward. Also, impacts on financial results forthe fiscal year ending March 2007 by the relevant refinancing are not confirmedyet as of today. When they are confirmed, updated information will be promptlyprovided. *WBS: Whole Business Securitization. One of structured financing schemes, whichsecuritizes a business taking cash flow to be generated by the business as anendorsing asset to ensure repayment with greater assurance. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange