August 3, 2026, 2:45 p.m. (JST)
[Japan] SB Payment Service (SBPS; Tokyo, Japan), a subsidiary of SoftBank, announced that it has decided to acquire shares in B.X., the sole parent company of SP.LINKS, from a private equity fund managed or advised by an affiliate of Blackstone Inc., a major U.S. investment fund, and to proceed with the necessary procedures to make SP.LINKS a subsidiary of SP.LINKS.J.A. One Holdings, the sole parent company of SP.LINKS, and to proceed with the necessary procedures to make SP.LINKS a subsidiary.
This share acquisition is subject to approval by the relevant authorities and the fulfillment of other conditions precedent set forth in the share transfer agreement. Until the acquisition is completed, SBPS and SP.LINKS will continue to operate as independent entities.
In addition to its payment processing business, which offers more than 40 payment methods, SBPS provides solutions such as acquiring services, B2B financial services, and support for overseas expansion.Meanwhile, in addition to its payment processing business, SP.LINKS operates a card data processing center—one of only a few such facilities in Japan—and is the only company in the non-face-to-face sector to possess a credit card payment network directly connected to 16 major card issuers.
By combining the strengths of these two companies, the new entity aims to further strengthen its diversified solution offerings—ranging from a stable payment infrastructure to acquiring services, payment networks, and value-added services—and establish a system capable of meeting all merchant needs.This will enable the companies to form a business foundation that ranks among the top in Japan, with an annual payment transaction volume of over ten trillion yen, while also building a system capable of providing sustainably competitive services.
Furthermore, with an eye toward the widespread adoption of “Agentic Commerce”—a new form of commerce leveraging AI—the company will continue to strengthen the payment infrastructure that supports next-generation commerce. (paymentnavi Editorial Team)
