Sold Allotted Shares In Soon-To-List SoftBank Telecom Unit: SBI Holdings

SBI Holdings said on Friday it has sold all its allotted shares in SoftBank Group Corp's soon-to-list telecom unit, underscoring strong retail demand for the shares.

One of the lead underwriters for the domestic portion of what is set to be Japan's largest ever IPO, an error with SBI's allocation of shares to investors had led to rumours of below-expectation demand for the country's third-largest telecom company.

The telecoms unit, SoftBank Corp, priced its IPO earlier this week at an indicated 1,500 yen ($13.22) per share, and said it would sell an extra 160 million shares to meet the demand, raising about $23.5 billion.

The SBI slip is just one factor weighing on investors' minds ahead of its trading debut in Tokyo on December 19.

Others concerns include the potential costs of replacing network equipment from supplier Huawei Technologies Co Ltd as governments around the world move to shut out the Chinese maker, regulator pressure to cut carrier fees and widespread network disruption last week caused by a software glitch.

Shares of SoftBank Group closed down 4.6 per cent on Friday, taking this month's decline to about 11 per cent. The benchmark index dropped 2 per cent.

($1 = 113.4600 yen)