TOKYO: SoftBank Group Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Masayoshi Son pledged Thursday that the company will promote fund procurement steadily under its 4.5-trillion-yen asset sale plan.

At a regular shareholders' meeting, Son reassured investors that the company has secured almost 80 percent of the funds planned to be procured under the plan.

"We will steadily carry out the rest," Son said, referring to the asset sale plan, which was compiled after the technology investor's financial standing deteriorated due to losses from its investment operations.

All items on the agenda, including the appointments of 13 board members, including Son, were approved by shareholders at the meeting.

Son answered questions from shareholders in an online conference.

Responding to a shareholder who expressed concerns over the massive losses, Son said, "The prices of the shares owned by SBG (SoftBank Group) have not fallen very much (amid the spread of the new coronavirus), and they are rather rising."

SoftBank Group incurred a consolidated operating loss of 1,364.6 billion yen in fiscal 2019, as its 10-trillion-yen-plus Vision Fund investment portfolio suffered a drop in valuation.

The company has drawn up the asset sale plan to reduce debts and repurchase own shares.

On Tuesday, SoftBank Group announced that it will sell shares in T-Mobile US Inc., an equity-method affiliate, to procure up to 20.1 billion dollars.

In addition, SoftBank Group has decided to raise funds using its shareholdings in major Chinese information technology company Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd. It now expects to procure a total of 3.6 trillion yen, or 80 percent of the targeted sum.

JIJI Press