Japan's biggest electric trader Rakuten buys US rebate net Ebates $1 billion

September 9 News, according to foreign http://www.aliyun.com/zixun/aggregation/31646.html "> media reports, Japan Electric Company Lotte announced in Tuesday, will be 1 billion U.S. dollars to buy the U.S. rebate website Ebates. Investors and analysts have questioned the logic behind the deal.

The deal underscores the ambition of Rakuten to expand overseas markets after more than 1.2 billion dollars in Cross-border acquisitions. But the shares of Japan's biggest power company fell 5.4% per cent after announcing the deal last weekend. The market doubts how Rakuten Will digest another big takeover.

Rakuten president Hiroshi Mikitani said in Tuesday that the deal was an opportunity for the company to acquire Ebates American clients. Ebates is located in San Francisco, USA, and its website deals with rebates and coupons issued by Amazon and Best Buy retailers.

According to the idea of Mikitani history, Rakuten needs to reduce its reliance on the local market, which is the reason for the deal. The Japanese market has contributed about 90% of its revenue to Rakuten, but the company's growth prospects have been affected by a weakening consumer spending and a shrinking population.

Rakuten's high-profile acquisitions in recent years include 900 million of dollars to buy free short message applications Viber, and 315 million dollars to buy Canadian E-book reader maker Kobo. The Mikitani Sheng is trying to transform Rakuten from a single power business company into a one-stop service for global users, according to Amazon.

The company is already providing financial services, travel, shopping and online video. Rakuten recently announced that it would join hands with Malaysian Asian airlines to build a low-cost airline in Japan.

Rakuten has submitted a temporary registration application to issue up to $940 million trillion in bonds to fund the acquisition. The debt issuance project is scheduled to be completed next month. The company plans to use the proceeds of debt as operating cash, capital expenditure and other purposes.

Analysts said Rakuten's balance sheet was strong enough, so the takeover was not a problem for the company. The company is also prepared to finance from banks.