SoftBank Group Corp. has announced that it has entered into a strategic partnership and equity share swap agreement with Deutsche Telekom AG. Under the strategic partnership between the two companies, SoftBank’s more than 300 portfolio companies gain access to an additional, approximately 240 million DT customers across Europe and the US, providing these portfolio companies the ability to scale quickly and at a low cost, according to a statement.
The statement informed, “The transaction diversifies SoftBank’s telecoms exposure across Japan, Europe and the US, with a 41% ownership of SoftBank Corp., 4.5% of DT and 3.3%1 of TMUS. SoftBank will have access to a total of nearly 300 million customers across the globe, including approximately 55 million from SoftBank Corp., approximately 95 million from DT and approximately 140 million from TMUS.”
“This is a landmark transaction that is a true win-win-win for our portfolio companies, SoftBank and Deutsche Telekom,” said Marcelo Claure, Corporate Officer, Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer of SoftBank Group Corp. and Chief Executive Officer of SoftBank Group International. “The long-term strategic partnership will create incredible opportunities for our portfolio companies to turbocharge their growth with access to approximately 300 million customers across Japan, Europe and the US in total. The transaction diversifies our telecoms exposure and results in SoftBank becoming DT’s second largest private shareholder, while retaining meaningful exposure to high-growth TMUS. It also marks a decisive step for DT towards their stated objective of acquiring a majority stake in TMUS, and the addition of the world’s largest technology investor in SoftBank validates their Telco 2030 vision and demonstrates the “Magenta Advantage.” I look forward to partnering with Tim and team long into the future.”
“We are delighted to welcome SoftBank as a new key investor and strategic partner for Deutsche Telekom and can’t wait to get to work on the value creation opportunities from this cooperation for both SoftBank and Deutsche Telekom,” said Timotheus Höttges, Chief Executive Officer, Deutsche Telekom AG.
Sullivan & Cromwell acted as legal advisors to SoftBank on this transaction.
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