TOKYO: Softbank Group Corp said it would sell at least US$7.9 billion of its shares in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd — a move that will cut the Japanese firm’s debt amid worries about losses at its US telecom unit Sprint Corp.
The transaction marks the first sale of shares in the Chinese e-commerce giant by its largest shareholder since Softbank began investing in the company in 2000, and will reduce its stake to about 28 percent from 32.2 percent.
The two companies said they would maintain a strategic partnership.
Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley analyst Hideaki Tanaka said the move would be positive for Softbank’s shares.
“Although Softbank is stepping up investment in Internet firms, it is also making serious efforts to improve its financial standing,” he wrote in a note to clients.
Shares in Softbank yesterday finished flat in Tokyo trading and are down 15 percent from a year ago due to concerns about its heavy debt burden.
Shares in Alibaba fell 2.8 percent in extended trading a day earlier.
The planned share sale will include US$5 billion to US$6 billion of stock that is to be sold by private placement to institutional investors by a Softbank-controlled trust.
Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank are to manage that portion of the sale.
Another US$2 billion worth of stock will be bought by Alibaba using cash on hand and US$400 million will be bought by the Alibaba Partnership, a 34-person group made up of executive chairman Jack Ma and other Alibaba founders and executives.
An additional US$500 million worth of stock is set to be sold to an unidentified sovereign wealth fund.
Softbank chief executive Masayoshi Son is to remain a director at Alibaba, while Ma is to remain on the board of Softbank.
Softbank had also entered into a lockup agreement with Alibaba under which it will not transfer any Alibaba shares held by the company for six months.
Softbank had interest-bearing debt of ￥11.9 trillion (US$107 billion) as of the end of March, including ￥4 trillion at Sprint.
Its debt-equity ratio stands at 4.56, much higher than the industry median of 0.32, according to Thomson Reuters data.
In addition to the Alibaba stock sales, media reports have also said Softbank is weighing a sale of its stake in Finnish smartphone game maker Supercell Oy to lower its debt.
SoftBank is known as a canny investor in raft of Internet firms, ranging from Yahoo Japan to the Indian ride-sharing firm Ola.
Its initial investment in Alibaba was just US$20 million.
Some analysts said that the timing of SoftBank stock sale was not auspicious given that Alibaba unnerved investors last week when it reported that the US Securities and Exchange Commission was investigating its accounting practices.
However, New York City-based Stifel analyst Scott Devitt maintained a “buy” rating on Alibaba after the Softbank sale.
“We do not view this as a shift in confidence from a major investor. In fact, it could remove an overhang of expectation of such an event,” he said in a note to clients.
The news also comes amid speculation that US Web company Yahoo Inc may be looking at a disposal of its 15 percent stake in Alibaba, along with a possible sale of its core business.
An Alibaba spokeswoman declined to comment on the Yahoo-owned stake.
Yahoo did not respond to a request for comment.
