By Echo Wang and Miho Uranaka
(Reuters) -SoftBank has selected investment banks to help organize a potential initial public offering in the United States for its Japanese payments app operator PayPay, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The banks leading preparations for the listing are Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Mizuho Financial Group and Morgan Stanley, the sources said.
The PayPay offering may raise more than $2 billion from investors when it takes place, which the sources said could be as soon as the final quarter of this year.
The sources declined to be named as the information is not public and cautioned that factors including timing and the amount the IPO could raise are subject to market conditions.
SoftBank, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Mizuho, and Morgan Stanley declined to comment.
PayPay played a role in encouraging Japanese consumers to move away from a long-standing preference for cash by offering rebates on payments through its mobile app.
It also offers financial services including banking and credit cards.
Reuters reported two years ago that SoftBank was considering a U.S. listing for PayPay, with the conglomerate saying earlier this year it wanted to IPO the business.
Should it happen, it will be the first U.S. listing of a SoftBank majority investment since the blockbuster IPO of Arm Holdings. SoftBank took the chip designer public in 2023 at a valuation of $54.5 billion, which has subsequently increased to today's market capitalization of more than $145 billion.
U.S. IPO activity has gained momentum in a long-awaited rebound, supported by strong tech earnings and signs of progress in trade negotiations that have helped restore investor confidence.
The wave of solid market debuts marks a reversal from earlier this year, when uncertainty over President Donald Trump's tariff policies stalled new listings.
PayPay's ownership is split between a number of SoftBank entities: wireless carrier SoftBank Corp, the Vision Fund investment arm, and internet business LY Corp, which is a joint venture between SoftBank and Naver Corp.
(Reporting by Echo Wang in New York and Miho Uranaka in Tokyo. Editing by David French, Sam Nussey and Anna Driver)
