Softbank To Buy Wirecard Shares

Japan’s Softbank Group will purchase a 5.6 percent stake in German payments company Wirecard by acquiring convertible bonds worth about 900 million euros ($1 billion), Wirecard said in a statement on Wednesday.

«As global innovators, we focus heavily on expanding our networks and creating opportunities for companies with groundbreaking ideas. In SoftBank, we have found a partner that shares both our passion for new technologies and drive to spearhead the latest innovations, all on a global scale,» said Markus Braun, CEO at Wirecard.

The two companies said they had also signed a memorandum of understanding for a strategic tie-up in providing digital solutions. SoftBank will help Wirecard expand into Japan and South Korea, and provide collaboration opportunities in digital payments, data-analytics/AI and innovative digital financial services within the Japanese firm’s portfolio companies

As part of the deal, Wirecard said it shall issue convertible bonds with a term of five years exclusively to an affiliate of SoftBank, convertible to 6,923,076 million ordinary shares at 130 euros per Wirecard share. The issuance of the convertible bonds is subject to shareholders’ approval at its annual general meeting on June 18, Wirecard said.

The investment comes amidst the payment firm’s ongoing defense against Financial Times newspaper reports this year saying staff at its Asian operations had inflated reported revenue.

Last month, Wirecard said an outside law firm investigating the matter found the local staff at its Singapore office may have committed crimes, but these were not material to the German payment company’s financial position.

Credit Suisse is serving as financial adviser to SoftBank and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP as legal adviser. Noerr LLP and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP are serving as legal advisers to Wirecard.