The Nikkei newspaper reported earlier that SoftBank was planning to list the unit in Tokyo and overseas as early as this spring, a move that could raise some 2 trillion yen (13.11 billion pounds).

SoftBank said in a statement that "we are always studying various capital strategy options. The listing of SoftBank Corp. shares is one such option, but no decision has been made to officially proceed with this course."

(Reporting by Chris Gallagher; editing by Richard Pullin)

Stocks treated in this article : Nikkei 225, SoftBank Group Corp