Japanese telco to acquire 10% of IP Ventures

A unit of Japanese telecommunications firm SoftBank Corp. will acquire 10 percent of a newly formed technology company of publicly listed IPVG Corp., the company said Monday.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, IPVG said that SoftBank unit Bodhi Investments LLC—a fund managed by SB China and India Holdings (SBCI)—will subscribe to a tenth of IP Ventures shares “subject to certain closing conditions.”

SBCI is a wholly owned subsidiary of SoftBank, which also provides Internet services, and is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. It manages the Bodhi Fund, which focuses on venture opportunities in China, India and Southeast Asia.

Areas of investment for SBCI include technology-leveraged businesses vested in software, the Internet, financial services and healthcare.

IP Ventures, meanwhile, is a newly incorporated company of IPVG Corp.

Under its restructuring plan, which was announced recently, IPVG has transferred all its assets to IP Ventures, which possesses the same ownership structure as that of its parent firm.

“We consider the signing of this agreement with Bodhi Fund as a major milestone for our company,” IP Ventures CEO Enrique Gonzalez said. “This is indeed a significant event for us.”

IP Ventures is a private holding company whose subsidiaries operate in communications, consumer Internet and payment solutions business segments.

The company invests both funding and management expertise in incubation and early stage businesses related to the Internet.

Its parent firm, IPVG, earlier disclosed it would raise fresh capital through IP Ventures following the completion of a restructuring program.

This restructuring resulted in IPVG becoming a shell company, which can house other investments and businesses in the future.

The group has yet to disclose, however, what assets would be infused into the shell company to maximize its value as a listed firm.

IPVG recently said it was in discussion with potential buyers for a possible deal, although nothing has been sealed to date.

It has also been buying out minority shareholders who intend to sell their shares, and the group intends to hike their shareholdings about two-thirds of IPVG’s total outstanding stock through acquisitions from the open market.

IPVG is rumored to be the takeover target of Bloombury Investments Holdings, which owns the hotel-casino venture of tycoon Enrique Razon Jr.