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SBI Holdings says it sold all allotted shares in soon-to-list SoftBank telco

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Reuters TOKYO
Last Updated : Dec 14 2018 | 2:10 PM IST

TOKYO (Reuters) - SBI Holdings said on Friday it has sold all its allotted shares in SoftBank Group Corp's soon-to-list domestic telco, underscoring strong retail demand for the shares.

One of the lead underwriters for the domestic portion of what is set to be Japan's largest ever IPO, an error with SBI's allocation of shares to investors had led to rumours of below-expectation demand for the country's third-largest telco.

The telecoms unit, SoftBank Corp, priced its IPO earlier this week at an indicated 1,500 yen ($13.22) per share, and said it would sell an extra 160 million shares to meet the demand, raising about $23.5 billion.

The SBI slip is just one factor weighing on investors' minds ahead of its trading debut in Tokyo on Dec. 19.

Others concerns include the potential costs of replacing network equipment from supplier Huawei Technologies Co Ltd as governments around the world move to shut out the Chinese maker, regulator pressure to cut carrier fees and widespread network disruption last week caused by a software glitch.

Shares of SoftBank Group closed down 4.6 percent on Friday, taking this month's decline to about 11 percent. The benchmark index dropped 2 percent.

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($1 = 113.4600 yen)

(Reporting by Sam Nussey; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

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First Published: Dec 14 2018 | 1:59 PM IST

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