Softbank Group sells total $10bn of Alibaba shares

Japanese telecommunications titan Softbank Group Corp is selling another $1.1bn of its shares in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding, taking the total it has disposed of to $10bn.

It intended to use the proceeds from these deals to repay interest-bearing debt and other general corporate purposes, Softbank said in a statement.

With the pricing of these transactions, Softbank said its consolidated net interest-bearing debt to EBITDA ratio, excluding US wireless carrier Sprint Corp, would be about 3.2 to 1.

Softbank -- a top shareholder in Alibaba -- said the $10bn comprised $6.6bn of mandatory exchaneable trust securities, plus a further $3.4bn of ordinary shares sold to Alibaba Group, Alibaba Partnership, GIC Private Ltd and Temasek Holdings Private Ltd.

GIC Private and Temasek Holdings are Singapore's state-owned investment firms.