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The
Japanese telecommunications company earlier this month said it
planned to sell $10 billion worth of Alibaba shares to help cut
interest-bearing debt, reducing its stake in the Chinese
e-commerce firm to around 27 percent from 32.2 percent.
The expected profit will come from the sale of $3.4 billion
worth of Alibaba shares.
The remaining $6.6 billion worth of shares will be sold by
private placement to institutional investors by a
SoftBank-controled trust, but any profit would not be finalised
for several years due to the structure of the deal.
The sale of Alibaba shares would be a first for SoftBank since
the Japanese firm's initial investment in 2000. The two
companies said they would maintain a strategic partnership.
Separately, SoftBank has also agreed to sell most of its stake
in GungHo Online Entertainment Inc back to the mobile game maker
for 73 billion yen. The company said it would announce the
expected earnings impact later.
As well as reducing debt, the sales are likely to ease investor
concern about SoftBank's finances that has grown since the
Japanese firm's 2013 acquisition of a majority stake in
struggling U.S. wireless carrier Sprint Corp.
(Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki; Editing by Edwina Gibbs and
Christopher Cushing)
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