(Bloomberg) -- Rakuten Group Inc. hired banks for a $500 million bond sale at a time when high-yield dollar note funding costs are near 17-year lows.

The Japanese e-commerce firm is considering the sale of hybrid perpetual notes that can be called after five years, according to a person familiar with the matter. Rakuten is turning to the dollar bond market for the third time this year after pricing a combined $3.8 billion of such debt in the first half, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Rakuten’s planned dollar bond sale follows its bond offering in the currency in April, the data showed.

Rakuten, which is rated a sub-investment BB by S&P Global Ratings, is planning a note when high-yield debt funding costs are at near the lowest level since 2007, according to a Bloomberg US high-yield corporate index. The Japanese issuer debuted its first offering in the dollar market in 2019 when it still had the lowest investment-grade score of BBB- from S&P.

The proposed bond may price later this week, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The company’s $1.8 billion high-yield bond climbed to about 109 cents on the dollar on Monday from an issue price of 97.83 cents in January as the company has sold assets to boost liquidity and losses at its mobile carrier operations have narrowed.

US Treasury yields are falling on expectations that the Federal Reserve may cut rates further, while the Bank of Japan is shifting to tighter monetary policy, which contrasts with the broad shift to lower rates by other major economies.

Rakuten is planning to use the funds raised for the first call on domestic subordinated bonds, a spokesperson said, adding that it decided to issue dollar-denominated bonds this time because the market environment overseas is good.

Markets are focused on whether Rakuten can make bond repayments after an ill-timed foray into Japan’s capital-intensive wireless market. Rakuten reported its 17th straight quarterly net loss in the September period, and said last month it would book a one-time gain of ¥159.4 billion ($1.1 billion) in the current quarter from selling about 15% stake in its lucrative credit card arm to Mizuho Financial Group Inc.

“Overseas investors in the high-yield bond market tend to think in terms of prices rather than credit ratings,” said Shunsuke Oshida, head of credit research at Manulife Investment Management Japan. “Generally speaking, issuers which can sell high-yield bonds there have gained the trust from the overseas high-yield market.”