SoftBank adds to Alibaba sale, bringing total to $10 bln (updated)
04/06/2016 01:18
(Adds separate announcement on sale of Gungho shares)
By Ritsuko Ando
TOKYO, June 3 (Reuters) - SoftBank Group Corp 9984.T said
on Friday it was selling a further $1.1 billion of its shares in
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA.N , bringing the total it has
sold in the Chinese e-commerce company to $10 billion.
Separately, SoftBank agreed to sell most of its remaining
stake in mobile gaming company Gungho Online Entertainment
3765.T back to the company for 73 billion yen ($685.38
million), Gungho said.
SoftBank, Alibaba's top shareholder, on Wednesday said it
would sell at least $7.9 billion of shares in Alibaba. That
marks SoftBank's first sale of shares in the Chinese company
since it began investing in Alibaba in 2000. The two companies
said they would maintain a strategic partnership. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N18S51V
SoftBank said it was exercising a greenshoe option to sell
more shares in Alibaba. SoftBank, which invests in telecoms and
internet companies, sold more shares because of strong demand, a
spokesman said.
The sale is expected to help reduce debt at Softbank, which
also holds a majority stake in U.S. wireless carrier Sprint Corp
S.N . Sprint is loss-making and has embarked on a cost-cutting
drive. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1802G5
Singapore state funds bought $1 billion of Alibaba shares in
part of the SoftBank sale, Alibaba said on Wednesday.
urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N18T2BX
($1 = 106.5100 yen)
(Reporting by Ritsuko Ando; Additional reporting by Yoshiyasu
Shida; Writing by William Mallard; Editing by Jane Merriman and
Leslie Adler)
((nicholas.macfie@thomsonreuters.com; +65 6870 3815; Reuters
Messaging: nicholas.macfie.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
Keywords: SOFTBANK ALIBABA/