SoftBank May Receive Listing For Mobile Unit

In what could be Japan’s largest listing in history, unidentified sources claim that SoftBank Group Corp.’s mobile unit could gain listing approval by the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Nov. 12. A possible listing date could come about one month later on Dec. 19, Reuters reported.

The listing could make room for investments in areas such as solar energy and ridesharing. And, according to reports, the possible initial public offering (IPO) joint global coordinators include Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan, Nomura Holdings, Goldman Sachs and SMBC Nikko Securities, which is a unit of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group. SoftBank, however, did not comment to Reuters on the reported news.

The news comes as Opendoor, the home selling startup, said that it has raised $400 million from SoftBank’s Vision Fund. As VentureBeat noted in September, that latest announcement came on the heels of a $325 million Series E fundraising round seen three months prior.

The cumulative tally raised to date comes to more than $1 billion in venture capital money in the startup’s coffers, in addition to $2 billion that had been raised through debt. In an interview with VentureBeat, CEO Eric Wu told the publication that discussions with SoftBank had been in place as the aforementioned Series E was taking shape.

Opendoor traces its genesis to 2013, and looks to speed up and streamline the process of home buying and selling. The platform partners with agents to assist in the buying and selling process. As VentureBeat explained, app users list their homes, and Opendoor bids on the homes “sight unseen” as an attendant inspection is performed. The fees paid by the sellers come to about 6.5 percent, and transactions close in a matter of days. The average time to resell a home is 90 days, the company has said. During the buying process, users can browse through the site and schedule viewings.