Softbank to sell USD 7.9 bln in Alibaba shares

News Broadband China 1 JUN 2016
Softbank to sell USD 7.9 bln in Alibaba shares

Japan’s SoftBank said it will be selling USD 7.9 billion worth of shares in Alibaba in order to up its own liquidity and pay back debt. The transactions will include the sale of USD 2.0 billion worth of shares to Alibaba, USD 400 million worth of shares to members of the Alibaba Partnership acting collectively and USD 500 million of shares to a private equity group, plus another USD 5.0 billion to be offered by a newly formed trust in the form of American depositary shares (ADSs) in a private placement to institutional buyers. There will, in addition, probably be a greenshoe of USD 1.0 billon more worth of shares.

Softbank began investing in Alibaba in 2000 and will be cutting its stake in the company from 32 percent (at end March) to 28 percent. Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son will remain a board director of Alibaba, and Alibaba CEO Jack Ma will remain a board director of Softbank. As part of the deal, Softbank will also enter into a lockup agreement with Alibaba, agreeing not to transfer any Alibaba shares for six months, subject to certain exceptions.

Alibaba said it will buy back the USD 2 billion worth of own shares with cash on hand. The company noted that the transactions will be SoftBank's first sale of Alibaba stock since its initial investment.

Categories:

Internet

Companies:

Softbank,  Alibaba

Countries:

China,  Japan

Tags:

Corporate strategy, Financial funding, M&A buyouts & divestments

Related Articles

GLOBAL 4 JUN 2019

Softbank books JPY 1.2 trillion profit on sale of Alibaba shares

SoftBank Group announced that it expects to book a profit of JPY 1.2 trillion from the sale of some of its shares in Alibaba. The profit results from the settlement of a derivatives contract entered into in 2016 to help pay off debt and fund its takeover of ARM. Following the sale, Softbank still holds a 26 percent stake in Alibaba. 

INDONESIA 6 SEP 2016

Jack Ma to take up e-commerce advisor role in Indonesia

The Indonesian government plans to appoint Jack Ma, executive chairman of e-commerce platform Alibaba, as an adviser to the forthcoming Indonesian steering committee for e-commerce development, local newspaper The Nation reports, citing Indonesia's Communications and Information Minister Rudiantara. "I propose Jack Ma as an adviser to the steering committee, so that Indonesia may grab greater attention from the international market when they see that even Jack Ma is willing to advise us", Rudiantara said. T

JAPAN 22 JUL 2016

Softbank sells shares in GungHo for JPY 72.2 billion

Softbank has agreed to sell the bulk of its shares in GungHo Online Entertainment, the latter announced. At the close of its tender offer to buy back shares for treasury stock, GungHo said it accepted to purchase a total 248.3 million, at JPY 294 each. Of the total, Softbank and its subsidiaries will sell 245.6 million, raising the Japanese company JPY 72.2 billion (USD 679 million). After completing the sale, Softbank will still hold 3.8 percent of the voting rights in GungHo.

CHINA 16 JUN 2016

Softbank sees JPY 200-250 bln profit from Alibaba share sale

SoftBank said it raised a total of USD 10 billion from the sale of some of its Alibaba shares and that it expects to book profit from the sale this year of JPY 200-250 billion, or USD 1.9-2.4 billion. Shares were sold to Alibaba, members of the Alibaba Partnership acting collectively, Gamlight, part of Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC, and Aranda Investments, a unit of Temasek.

SINGAPORE 2 JUN 2016

GIC, Temasek buy USD 1 bln worth of Alibaba shares

Softbank's sale of at least USD 7.9 billion worth of shares in Alibaba has attracted a number of buyers, with Singapore state funds taking USD 1 billion in shares, Alibaba announced. Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC purchased USD 500 million worth and state investor Temasek bought another USD 500 million worth. The companies paid USD 74.00 per share through subsidiaries. Temasek is an existing investor in Alibaba. SoftBank said it was not planning to use any of the funds raised from the sales to buy Yaho

JAPAN 13 MAY 2016

Softbank, Alibaba launch cloud jv for Japan

Alibaba and SoftBank have started a joint venture that will bring Alibaba Cloud cloud computing services to Japan. The new SB Cloud will open a new data centre in Japan and provide cloud computing services aimed at the Japanese market, for clients ranging from startups to multinational companies.

JAPAN 7 MAR 2016

SoftBank splits company into domestic, international ops

The SoftBank Group has started a major company-wide reorganisation, positioning its two core businesses, namely domestic operations and global operations, as future growth drivers. According to the new strategic direction, Nikesh Arora will head the group's global operations management company and Ken Miyauchi its domestic operations management company in Japan. The two will concurrently serve as representative director, president & COO of SBG, and director of SBG respectively.

JAPAN 10 FEB 2016

Softbank's Q3 operating profit grows 7.3%

Japanese communications provider Softbank posted an operating income of JPY 189.6 billion for its fiscal third quarter to 31 December 2015, an increase of 7.3 percent year-on-year thanks to improvements both in its home market and at Sprint in the US. Net income plunged 88 percent to JPY 2.3 billion in the third quarter, hurt by a number of charges for changes in the value of its investments, such as Alibaba and GungHo. Sales for the quarter increased by 4.3 percent to JPY 2.4 trillion.

GLOBAL 9 DEC 2015

Yahoo! to try new plan for separation of Alibaba stake

Yahoo! Ihas abandoned the plan to spin off its stake in Alibaba Group into a separate company. Instead it will look at a reverse of the plan, separating its other activities into a new company. The Alibaba spin-off, originally planned for January 2016, hit a stumbling block when US authorities said they could not say whether the transaction could take place completely tax-free for Yahoo shareholders. In the reverse spin-off, Yahoo's assets and liabilities other than the Alibaba stake would be transferred to

CHINA 8 MAY 2014

Softbank says no plans to sell Alibaba shares

Softbank has no plans to reduce its stake and sell shares in Alibaba's upcoming IPO. Softbank is the biggest shareholder in the Chinese e-commerce giant with a 34.4 percent stake. CEO Masayoshi Son said at a briefing on the Japanese company's annual results that the holding could decline after the IPO due to dilution, but it has no plans to sell at the moment. He added that Softbank was a strategic partner to Alibaba, especially in Asia, Reuters reports. He signalled, however, that SoftBank could change its

CHINA 7 MAY 2014

Alibaba files for IPO

Chinese e-commerce group Alibaba has filed for an initial public offering of shares in the US. The IPO would raise an initial USD 1 billion, according to the estimated fees for the preliminary prospectus filed with the SEC. The exact amount of shares sold and at what price will be decided closer to the listing. The filing confirms that Alibaba is growing quickly, with revenues in the nine months to end-2013 rising to CNY 40.47 billion from CNY 25.84 billion a year earlier. Over the same period its net profi

Just In

19 DEC 16:42

SLT-Mobitel launches 5G network in Sri Lanka

19 DEC 16:19

Dialog Axiata launches 5G network, connects 1.5 million subscribers

19 DEC 15:56

UK govt to ban AI-enabled nudification apps to protect women, girls

19 DEC 15:42

3 UK launches last-minute Christmas sale

Commentary

13:56

Video market set for slower growth ahead

11:38

Netflix buys Warner Bros to deepen content catalogue

11:11

KPN's mixed performance in Q3 raises questions for strategy day

15:26

Stock markets breaking records but what happened to Odido's IPO plans?

Background

01:04

The week in telecom: Wi-Fi bolt-ons take off to boost broadband growth, video market works on consolidation

01:39

The week in telecom: Netflix wins bidding for Warner Bros, Apple poaches new execs, Samsung debuts trifold

13:51

Proximus vs. Telenet: Proximus performs better in Q3 while Telenet uses up cash

14:16

Proximus Domestic still struggling with low margins

Complete profile

Before downloading the whitepaper, we would like to ask you to complete your profile with company and position. After confirming you will receive the white paper.