Rakuten Mobile Plans Sale and Leaseback Parts of Network

Rakuten Mobile reached a deal with a group of infrastructure funds to sell and leaseback parts of its network, Rakuten said Thursday. The company expects it will raise as much as $2.1 billion working with the group, which includes Macquarie Asset Management and British Columbia Investment Management. “Rakuten Mobile is already well on its way to profitability, and with our new initiative, we will continue to build on this momentum as we aim to reach profitability even faster and become the top mobile carrier in Japan,” Mickey Mikitani, Rakuten Group chair and CEO, said.