Rakuten Mobile lined up long-term funding of between JPY150 billion ($1 billion) and JPY300 billion through the sale and leaseback of a part of its network to a consortium of global infrastructure investors.

The consortium is led by Macquarie Asset Management and includes British Columbia Investment Management Corp, through the Macquarie Asia-Pacific Infrastructure Fund 3.

Through the ten-year deal, Rakuten Mobile secured working capital and funds to support its network expansion: it will to continue to manage and operate the assets.

The operator’s parent Rakuten Group said it will announce the final amount and other conditions in due course.

Rakuten Group chair and CEO Mickey Mikitani noted in a statement Macquarie Asset Management believes in its vision, adding “together we’ve made our financial foundation even stronger”.

The company stated the deal will enable Rakuten Mobile to meet its immediate funding needs and also contributes to diversifying its financing methods and expanding its investor base.

Mikitani said in February it aims for monthly EBITDA break even by end-2024 and maintained a target to achieve this on an annual basis in 2025.