(July 27): SoftBank Corp is getting closer to acquiring SP.LINKS Inc after securing preferred bidder status for Blackstone Inc’s payments service provider, people familiar with the matter said.

Blackstone is selling the 80% stake it holds in SP.LINKS to SoftBank, and Sony Financial Group Inc’s banking arm is selling the remaining 20% share, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. A deal would make the payments company a wholly owned subsidiary of SoftBank.

A second round of bidding was held in early July, with SoftBank and private equity firms that advanced from the first round submitting offers, the people said.

SoftBank Corp, the mobile carrier controlled by SoftBank Group Corp, already owns SB Payment Service Corp, and it sees potential synergies from adding SP.LINKS to its group, including greater scale and shared costs for fraud-detection measures, the people said.

Representatives for SoftBank and Blackstone declined to comment.

SP.LINKS provides settlement services to companies for credit card and e-money payments. Blackstone bought an 80% stake in what was then called Sony Payment Services Inc from Sony Group Corp in January 2024 for about ¥40 billion (US$245 million or RM1 billion).

Uploaded by Magessan Varatharaja