Japan’s SoftBank (TYO: 9984) is planning to list its domestic telecoms business in Tokyo and possibly London.
The tech giant said in a statement that a share sale was an option but no final decision had been made yet.
“We are always studying various capital strategy options,” said the Japanese company in a statement. “The listing of Softbank Corp. shares is one such option, but no decision has been made to officially proceed with this course”.
Reports suggest Softbank are willing to sell 30 percent of shares to investors while keeping the remaining 70 percent stake.
The stock market listing would be one of Japan’s biggest initial public offerings and would raise an estimated 2 trillion yen ($18 billion; £13.1 billion).
Shares in the Japanese based company increased by almost six percent following news of the IPO plan, which was first reported by Japanese business daily Nikkei.
Last month a SoftBank-led consortium agreed to buy over percent of Uber for $9 billion.
Uber said in a statement: “We look forward to working with the purchasers to close the overall transaction, which we expect to support our technology investments, fuel our growth, and strengthen our corporate governance,”
Rajeev Misra, head of SoftBank’s $93 billion tech investment fund, said of the deal: “We are appreciative of the support from Uber’s shareholders in the successful tender offer and look forward to closing the overall investment in January,”
“We have tremendous confidence in Uber’s leadership,” he added.
In 2016, Softbank bought the technology firm ARM Holdings for a total of £24 billion ($32 billion).
Philip Hammond said that the deal showed that the UK “has lost none of its allure to international investors”, however, industry leaders warned it was a setback for the country.