Metaplanet redeems 8 billion yen bonds early, restores 33.4 billion yen bitcoin allocation

Tokyo-listed Metaplanet has repaid in full, ahead of maturity, the 8 billion yen it borrowed six months ago. In a Tokyo Stock Exchange filing on Nov. 2, the company said it had that day completed the early redemption of all 8 billion yen of its 20th Series of Ordinary Bonds issued to EVO FUND. As a result, it moved 8 billion yen of stock acquisition rights proceeds that had been set aside for bond repayment back to bitcoin purchases, raising the bitcoin allocation from 25.422 billion yen to 33.422 billion yen.

Repaid with cash on hand, about six months early

The 20th Series bonds were zero-interest bonds issued on April 24, with the entire issue allocated to EVO FUND. Each bond had a face value of 200 million yen, for a total of 8 billion yen, and maturity was set for April 23, 2027. The bonds carried no collateral or guarantee. According to the issuance notice, the bondholder could request early redemption at any time with five business days' written notice, and the company was also required to redeem a corresponding amount of bonds ahead of time when it raised new funds from the same investor.

Metaplanet said the redemption was carried out under an agreement with EVO FUND and funded with its cash on hand. Because the bonds bore no interest, the company said the impact on its consolidated results for the fiscal year ending December 2026 is expected to be immaterial, and that the change in use of proceeds will have no impact on its results.

Rights proceeds go back to the pre-April plan

The bonds were paired with stock acquisition rights from the start. Metaplanet issued 1 million 27th Series stock acquisition rights (covering 100 million shares) to EVO FUND on April 1, but it takes time for the rights to be exercised and the cash to arrive. So the company borrowed 8 billion yen through the bonds up front to buy bitcoin in a timely manner, planning to repay the bonds once exercise proceeds came in. That was the reason it gave when it changed the use of proceeds on April 24.

With the bonds now repaid from cash on hand, there is no longer a need to use the rights proceeds for repayment. The company reverted the use of the 37.135 billion yen it plans to raise through the rights to the allocation before the April change. The 8 billion yen bond repayment line has been removed, leaving 33.422 billion yen for bitcoin purchases and 3.714 billion yen for its Bitcoin Income Generation business, which earns income on bitcoin. Both are scheduled to be spent by April 2028. In the April change-of-use notice, the company also said that because financing through the rights is structured to proceed in stages depending on its share price and mNAV (the ratio of enterprise value to the value of its bitcoin holdings), the actual amount raised and the number of bitcoin acquired may vary with market conditions.

No rights exercised in October

A monthly exercise status notice filed the same day shows that none of the 27th Series rights were exercised in October. As of the end of October, 947,300 rights (94.73 million shares) remained unexercised, meaning 52,700 rights have been exercised since issuance. The exercise price resets daily to the previous trading day's closing price and ranged from 258 yen to 307 yen during October. Under the company's capital allocation policy, common shares are in principle issued only when mNAV exceeds 1.0x. The separate 25th and 26th Series rights also saw no exercises in October.

Metaplanet carried out share buybacks in October. On Oct. 13 it decided to issue Zero Coupon Euro-Yen Denominated Convertible Bonds due 2031 (with payment on Oct. 29), earmarking about 23.6 billion yen of roughly 51.9 billion yen in net proceeds for repaying bitcoin-collateralized borrowings and up to about 28.3 billion yen for share repurchases. According to a Nov. 2 filing, it bought back 96,447,400 shares worth 25,269,031,500 yen between Oct. 14 and Oct. 31. Its bitcoin holdings stood at 44,000 BTC as of Sept. 30, after it sold 10,000 BTC and bought back 11,000 BTC in the third quarter for a net increase of 1,000 BTC.

How much bitcoin 33.4 billion yen buys

Bitcoin traded at about 12.28 million yen on Japanese exchange bitFlyer at 8:33 p.m. KST on Nov. 2. At that price, the 8 billion yen bond principal equals about 651 BTC, and the new 33.422 billion yen purchase allocation equals about 2,721 BTC. The allocation, however, only comes in as the rights are actually exercised.

At the same time, bitcoin traded at $77,829 on Binance, 104,633,000 won on Upbit's Korean won market and 104,705,000 won on Bithumb. The Upbit price was about 0.85% higher than the Binance price converted into won — the kimchi premium, the gap between prices on Korean exchanges and global markets.