Metaplanet earmarks more of its 52 billion yen convertible for buybacks than for repaying Bitcoin loans

Metaplanet's policy says Bitcoin-backed borrowing should generally remain below 10% of its Bitcoin net asset value; it acknowledged the ratio reached approximately 17.7% at the end of September.

Metaplanet said lower Bitcoin prices could push the borrowing ratio higher by reducing the value of its holdings.

Metaplanet plans to use 23.6 billion yen of the proceeds in November 2026 to repay part of its existing Bitcoin-backed credit facility.

Metaplanet expects the transaction to reduce borrowing costs and release some Bitcoin currently pledged as collateral, replacing part of its interest-bearing Bitcoin-collateralized debt with longer-term unsecured obligations.

The filing acknowledged the issuance would initially increase total liabilities; debt would decline only if investors converted their bonds into shares or the company subsequently repaid obligations.

Metaplanet allocated up to 28.3 billion yen to repurchase shares between October and December 2026, including a planned off-market repurchase of up to 25.3 billion yen through the Tokyo Stock Exchange's ToSTNeT-3 system; its board separately approved a repurchase authorization of up to 60 billion yen.

Metaplanet stated that repurchasing shares when its market value is below the value of its underlying Bitcoin holdings could increase the Bitcoin backing of its remaining shares; it compares market valuation with Bitcoin net asset value using a measure known as mNAV.

According to the October 13 filing, the financing will not directly fund additional Bitcoin purchases.

Approximately 23.6 billion yen, about $151 million, is to repay Bitcoin-backed credit facilities.

The leverage ratio still sits above the company's 10% target after this repayment, so further debt reduction may be needed.

crypto.news puts the 52 billion yen issue at approximately $340 million.

Reported dollar conversions of the 52 billion yen issue range from $328 million to approximately $333 million depending on the exchange rate used.

Convertible bonds can eventually create new shares if holders convert.

The 23.6 billion yen repayment will include funds previously borrowed to support the acquisition of Siiibo Securities.

The buyback ceiling is about 54.5% of net proceeds (23.6 + 28.3 = 51.9 billion yen, matching net proceeds).

The ratio implies Bitcoin net asset value of about $3.67 billion, if the ratio is borrowing divided by market value of the holding.

The implied Bitcoin price is roughly $83,000 per coin across 44,000 Bitcoin.

At Cryptobriefing's implied rate, the 28.3 billion yen buyback ceiling is about $181 million.

After repaying $151 million, borrowing is about $499 million, or 13.6% of implied Bitcoin net asset value.

If the buyback ceiling also went to the loans, borrowing would be about $318 million, or 8.7% of implied net asset value.

A fall of about 23% in Bitcoin's value would put the ratio on the remaining $499 million back at 17.7%.

New bonds at face exceed the loan repayment by 28.4 billion yen of net new liabilities.

At an unchanged Bitcoin price, reaching 10% of implied net asset value needs about $132 million more repayment after the 151 million dollar repayment.

The bonds are being issued at 102.5% of par, according to Cryptobriefing, which says this shows how much investors value the equity upside.

The buybacks of up to 28.3 billion yen equal roughly 7.1% of outstanding shares.

Paying 102.5% of par for a zero-coupon bond redeemed at par five years later is a yield of about minus 0.5 points a year, ignoring compounding.