The Japanese company, SoftBank acquires 4.5% of the capital of the German telecom operator, in exchange for a stake in the American T-Mobile. The operation gives a European anchor to SoftBank and allows Deutsche Telekom to strengthen its control over its very profitable American subsidiary.

At the end of a complex agreement with Deutsche Telekom announced on Tuesday, the Japanese conglomerate will hold 4.5% of the capital of the German telephony giant. He thus set foot in European telecoms. This is a first for Masayashi Son's group, already active in telecoms in Japan. The Japanese conglomerate will be the third largest shareholder of Deutsche Telekom, behind the German government and the world's number one asset manager, BlackRock. Technically, the two groups will carry out an exchange of shares against 4.5% of Deutsche Telekom, SoftBank sells 3.6% of T-Mobile US. He agrees to sell an additional 1.6% to the German group – which will use 2.4 billion dollars from the sale of its activities in the Netherlands to settle the bill. For Deutsche Telekom, the operation results in an increase in the capital of T-Mobile US, from 43.2% to 48.4%, while the group has clearly shown its intention to cross the 50% mark. The German group thus consolidates its control over its very profitable American activity: more than 60% of Deutsche Telekom's turnover and Ebitda now come from the United States, where there are more customers and, above all, prices are much higher than in Europe.