SoftBank Group to sell T-Mobile shares

Jun 24, 2020 | News On Japan

Jun 24, 2020 (NHK) - Japan's SoftBank Group is selling its shares in US wireless carrier T-Mobile as part of a plan to improve its balance sheet.

The Japanese IT giant holds a roughly 24 percent stake in T-Mobile US, worth over 25 billion dollars in book value as of April.

SoftBank Group said on Tuesday it plans to transfer two-thirds of the stake to T-Mobile, which will then sell them to investors with SoftBank gaining the proceeds. The purchase price will be set on Tuesday, US Eastern Time.

SoftBank says most of the remaining shares will be subject to sales through a call option by T-Mobile's parent company Deutsche Telekom.

SoftBank Group posted an operating loss of more than 1.3 trillion yen, or about 11.7 billion dollars, in fiscal 2019 that ended in March.

The transfer of T-Mobile shares is part of the group's plan to sell assets worth 41 billion dollars this fiscal year to reduce debt.

SoftBank Group has already sold some of its shares in its domestic telecom subsidiary and raised cash using its stake in Chinese online giant Alibaba Group.

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