(Bloomberg) — SoftBank Group Corp. surged for a second day in Tokyo as investors’ hopes grew for another share repurchase program following the announcement of a complex deal with Deutsche Telekom AG.
Shares rose as much as 11% in early Tokyo trading, the most since Dec. 10. That took its two-day gain to almost 22%.
“We think a buyback is now likely,” Citigroup Inc. analyst Mitsunobu Tsuruo wrote in a note on Wednesday, following the announcement of the Deutsche Telekom deal that will see SoftBank acquire 4.5% of the German carrier, and also sell part of its stake in T-Mobile US Inc.
That deal should eventually cash out over 1.45 trillion yen ($13.1 billion) in total that may be allotted to a “major share buyback,” Tsuruo wrote.
Investors have been disappointed by the lack of a recent buyback announcement from SoftBank, after the firm concluded its massive 2.5 trillion yen repurchase program in May. SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son said last month that the firm will conduct a buyback at some stage, but that he was still undecided on the timing and size.
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