Japanese telco Softbank has said it would sell almost all of its 4% stake in US internet company Yahoo Inc to Citibank to repay US$1.135bn in debt.
“As a result of settling the obligations in this manner, the Softbank Group’s ownership in Yahoo Inc…
Japanese telco Softbank has said it would sell almost all of its 4% stake in US internet company Yahoo Inc to Citibank to repay US$1.135bn in debt.
“As a result of settling the obligations in this manner, the Softbank Group’s ownership in Yahoo Inc will be reduced from approximately 4% to as low as 0.002%,” a Softbank statement read.
The loan was taken out from Citibank in February 2004. The company expects the repayment to be completed by late September 2011.
As a result of this transaction, Softbank plans to book a special gain of approximately Y76.4bn (US$992m) for the year to 31 March 2012, bringing its net profit to Y44.7bn (US$580m) for the period.
In early March, it had been reported that Yahoo was seeking to exit its 35% stake in Yahoo Japan.
Yahoo was reportedly considering an asset swap with telco Softbank, which already owns a 42% stake in Yahoo Japan, because it would be a tax-efficient option. Softbank would have acquired a stake in Yahoo in return for the US company’s stake in Yahoo Japan, reports wrote.
But in a statement to TelecomFinance at the time, Softbank said: “There are no such facts and the company does not intend to acquire the shareholding of Yahoo Japan Corporation.”
