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SoftBank agreed to sell US mobile phone distributor Brightstar in its latest asset divestiture, effectively ending the Japanese conglomerate’s status as a major telecommunications operator.
The sale of Brightstar would cement SoftBank’s transition to a global investor and asset manager following a deal earlier this week to sell British chip designer Arm for up to $ 40 billion, and the recent sale of its stakes in T- Mobile US and its national telecommunications business.
In a statement Friday, SoftBank said it would sell its shares in Brightstar Global Group to a newly formed subsidiary of Brightstar Capital Partners, a private equity fund founded by Andrew Weinberg, a former chief operating officer of the US wireless distributor at a loss.
The Japanese group is expected to maintain its ties with Brightstar by acquiring a 25 percent stake in the new subsidiary. SoftBank also plans to maintain a 40 percent stake in its publicly traded national telecommunications subsidiary, although it will no longer have a majority stake in any telecommunications assets.
The size of the transaction was not disclosed, but people close to the company said SoftBank suffered a loss on its $ 1.7 billion investment in Brightstar that was completed in 2014.
Brightstar, with annual sales of $ 9 billion, was founded in 1997 by Marcelo Claure, who now serves as SoftBank’s COO after being hired by founder Masayoshi Son following the acquisition of the Japanese group.
Claure was subsequently asked to lead a turnaround at US wireless provider Sprint, which SoftBank acquired in 2013, and is credited with overseeing its recent merger with rival T-Mobile. Most recently, he was installed as president of WeWork to revive the losing American real estate group backed by SoftBank’s $ 100 billion Vision Fund.
“I am incredibly proud of what Brightstar has accomplished over the years and excited for its future,” Claure said in a statement Friday.
With recent sales, SoftBank has far exceeded the target of an asset sale program launched at the height of the coronavirus market crash in March. The program aimed to finance $ 41 billion in share buybacks and debt payments.
The newly acquired cash will open up a range of options for Son as he explores taking more aggressive bets on publicly traded tech stocks and the possible delisting of SoftBank shares.
SoftBank shares fell 1.1 percent in Tokyo on Friday.
