BERLIN, April 24 (Xinhua) -- The Japanese SoftBank Group will invest approximately 900 million euros (1.09 billion U.S. dollars) in convertible bonds issued by Wirecard, the Munich-based global payment service provider announced on Wednesday.
After five years, the bonds to be acquired by SoftBank will convert into a 5.6 percent stake in Wirecard at a price of 130 euros per share, the German payments provider said.
The sale of the bonds will be formally voted on by Wirecard's shareholders at the annual general meeting on June 18.
"In SoftBank we have found a partner that shares both our passion for new technologies and drive to spearhead the latest innovations, all on a global scale," commented Markus Braun, chief executive officer (CEO) of Wirecard.
SoftBank "will seek to support Wirecard's geographic expansion into Japan and South Korea" and the companies would collaborate on data analytics and artificial intelligence, according to Wirecard.
The German payment service provider added that it expected the partnership with the Japanese company to extend to joint exploration of "new product and service offers in digital lending".
Wirecard is a DAX-listed company that has seen major drops in share prices after media reported about alleged fraud committed by Wirecard subsidiaries in Singapore.
Wirecard repeatedly denied wrongdoing and was largely cleared of the allegations by an audit report of the law firm Rajah & Tann.
Back in February, the German financial regulator German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) had banned short trading in Wirecard for two months which was lifted last week.
The announcement of SoftBank's investment was received positively on the German stock exchange as shares in Wirecard jumped almost 9 percent to 134 euros in early trading on Wednesday.
