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TOKYO - Japan's aggressively expanding Softbank says it will raise 54 billion yen ($482 million) in Japan's stock and bond markets to fund its latest business target -- digital satellite broadcasting.
Softbank, already absorbing large amounts of funds to support a series of bold investments, said it would issue 4.7 million new shares and float convertible bonds worth 10 billion yen ($89.2 million).
Softbank, which has become world's largest computer-related magazine and book publisher through a string of bold buyouts, said the new funds would be used for the launch of a new digital satellite television service, J-SkyB.
Softbank launched the joint venture last summer with international media tycoon Rupert Murdoch's News.
The two bought 21.4 percent of Japan's nationwide television network Asahi National Broadcasting in June.
Softbank president Masayoshi Son said earlier this month that digital satellite broadcasting would be Softbank's business focus for the next year or two.
Analysts expect more than 100 billion yen ($892 million) will be required to launch the satellite broadcasting business.
Softbank has said Son's comments marked at least a temporary halt to a buying spree that culminated in the purchase in September of an 80 percent stake in Kingston Technology Corp., a leading supplier of memory modules, for about $1.5 billion in cash and stock.
Within the past year, Softbank has completed its $2.1 billion acquisition of Ziff-Davis Publishing and last year spent some $800 million on the Interface Group, whose trade show portfolio includes Comdex, the largest U.S. computer trade show.
The expansion drive, as well as issues of new shares to finance the buyouts, has worried some investors, who think it is happening too quickly.
Softbank has forecast a parent current profit of 19 billion yen ($170 million) for the year to March 1997. Current profit is pretax and includes gains or losses on non-operating activities.
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