SoftBank (SFTBF 5.36%) is gearing up to sell a stake in T-Mobile USA (TMUS -0.19%) as part of its plan to shore up cash via asset sales.
In a press release issued Tuesday, the Japanese tech stock confirmed it decided to explore a potential sale of some of its stake in T-Mobile USA among other potential financial transactions. SoftBank owns a 25% stake in the wireless carrier.
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“SBG is exploring transactions with respect to shares of T-Mobile common stock, including, private placements or public offerings; transactions with T-Mobile or stockholders of T-Mobile, including Deutsche Telekom AG, or third parties; derivative or hedging transactions; margin loans; or other structured transactions,” SoftBank wrote in the press release.
Sources told CNBC SoftBank wants to unload as much as two-thirds of its holdings which could fetch it around $20 billion.
For weeks rumors have been swirling that SoftBank would sell some of its stake in T-Mobile as it contends with huge losses from its Vision Technology Fund. For its fiscal year ended March 31, the Vision Fund reported a loss of 1.9 trillion yen or close to $18 billion, driven largely by write-offs for investments in Uber and WeWork that went sour.
At the end of March SoftBank announced it was aiming to sell $41 billion in assets and buyback billions of dollars in shares. It has already announced plans to sell a stake in its Japanese wireless holdings in May and has bought back around $3 billion in shares as of last week.
