Rakuten Group priced ¥400 billion ($2.5 billion) of yen-denominated bonds on Friday, including debt aimed at individual investors, in its largest-ever yen bond sale.
AST SPACEMOBILE $ASTS AND RAKUTEN ARE FORMING A JOINT VENTURE TO BUILD A SATELLITE-TO-PHONE NETWORK FOR JAPAN 🇯🇵
Japan's government will give the venture, Rakuten AST, up to ~$1B over ~3 years
AST will supply the satellites, which connect directly to regular smartphones. The goal is to start service in Japan by the end of March 2029.
Rakuten will own 51% of the venture and AST will own 49%.
Japan's Rakuten to establish joint venture with $ASTS to build out LEO satellite networks for Japan per Digitimes/Nikkei.
"The move is widely viewed as a strategic response to the growing influence of $SPCX Starlink in Japan"