SoftBank Plans $20B Offering Of Its T-Mobile Shares In Addition To Sale To Deutsche Telekom
SoftBank Group Corp (SFTBY) is looking to sell about $20 billion worth of its shares in T-Mobile Us Inc. (TMUS) in a secondary offering, according to a Wall Street Journal report late Monday.
What Happened
Morgan Stanley (MS) and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) are assisting SoftBank in searching for buyers, people familiar with the matter told the Journal.
The Japanese investment giant got a nearly 25% stake in T-Mobile as a result of the telecom operator's merger with SoftBank subsidiary Sprint Corporation.
Terms agreed with T-Mobile majority stakeholder Deutsche Telekom AG (OTC: DTEGF) at the time of the merger means SoftBank can't sell its shares before a certain time period.
As earlier reported by the Journal, SoftBank is in talks with Deutsche Telekom to amend the terms of the agreement. The two companies are discussing the size of such a deal that will bring the latter's stake in T-Mobile above the 50% mark.
SoftBank could still back out of the plans if it doesn't find a suitable offer, but if the plans go through, it "would be one of the largest stock trades in market history," sources told the Journal.
The Masayoshi Son-led firm has been struggling lately, with some of its biggest bets in technology startups failing to deliver. It posted a record $12.7 billion operating loss for the financial year 2019-20, mostly due to the ailing Vision Fund.
Price Action
SoftBank shares closed nearly 3% higher at $21.79 in the otc market on Monday. T-Mobile shares closed 4.7% higher at $101.90 the same day but dropped 2.3% lower in the after-hours session at $99.51.
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