T-Mobile shares priced at $103 each in SoftBank sale
U.S. wireless carrier T-Mobile US Inc (TMUS.O) said it has priced a sale of its shares at $103 each in a deal that will see SoftBank Group (9984.T) divest a portion of its stake – a major step in the Japanese conglomerate’s plan to sell assets.
The pricing comes after SoftBank unveiled a series of transactions on Monday to divest more than $20 billion of stock in T-Mobile, as it seeks funding for a $41 billion share buybacks and debt reduction plan.
The sale price is a 4% discount to T-Mobile’s Tuesday closing price.
Together with SoftBank’s already announced monetisation of stakes in e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding (BABA.N) and wireless carrier Softbank Corp (9434.T), “we now believe the selling is complete,” Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Chris Lane wrote in a note to clients.
The injection of funds will relieve pressure on SoftBank after investments from Chief Executive Masayoshi Son and his $100 billion Vision Fund have soured and hammered the group’s earnings.
SoftBank has spent 500 billion yen ($4.7 billion) on a share buyback plan that will total up to 2.5 trillion yen. Son is due to address shareholders on Thursday in his first public appearance since May’s earnings presentation.
