Telco SoftBank shares fall 3% as parent slashes stake

TOKYO (Reuters) – Shares in wireless carrier SoftBank Corp (9434.T) fell 3% in early trading on Monday after parent SoftBank Group Corp (9984.T) said it would sell up to 22% of the telco’s shares, slashing its exposure to the carrier to 40%.

SoftBank Group’s shares were up almost 5% as a series of massive asset sales and share buybacks continue to fuel its climb from March lows.

SoftBank Group “is manifesting a very disciplined approach to managing its balance sheet (in a welcome change) but does not bode so well for (SoftBank Corp’s) shareholders,” Jefferies analyst Atul Goyal wrote in a note.