軟銀擬減持至少79億美元阿里巴巴股份
SoftBank plans to sell at least $7.9bn worth of its stake in Chinese ecommerce group Alibaba to raise cash and pay down debt, in the first offloading of Masayoshi Son’s Most successful investment.
軟銀(SoftBank)計劃減持價值至少79億美元的阿里巴巴(Alibaba)股份，以籌措資金償還債務。這是軟銀對孫正義(Masayoshi Son)最成功的一項投資的首次減持。
The Japanese telecoms and internet group, founded by Mr Son, is expected to remain the largest shareholder in Alibaba even as the sale reduces its stake to about 28 per cent, from 32.2 per cent as of the end of March.
儘管這次減持會使其持股比例從3月底的32.2%降至約28%，但這家由孫正義創立的日本電信及互聯網集團預計仍將是阿里巴巴的最大股東。
The sale of Alibaba shares is SoftBank’s first since Mr Son made a $20m bet in the Chinese startup founded by Jack Ma in 2000. That stake is now worth $65bn following Alibaba’s record initial public offering in the US in 2014.
這是自2000年孫正義向馬雲(Jack Ma)創建的阿里巴巴投資2000萬美元以來，軟銀首次減持阿里巴巴的股份。2014年，阿里巴巴在美國舉行了規模創下紀錄的首次公開發行(IPO)，孫正義當初投的那筆錢如今已價值650億美元。
“This investment has been phenomenally successful and, over the past 16 years, we have built a close relationship, working together on many exciting projects. There are huge opportunities ahead for Alibaba and SoftBank Group looks forward to the continued partnership,” Mr Son said in a statement on Wednesday.
週三，孫正義在一份聲明中表示：“事實證明我們對於阿里的投資獲得了驚人的成功，過去16年裏，我們建立了緊密的合作伙伴關係。我們在此期間從未出售過阿里巴巴的股份。阿里巴巴未來還有巨大的發展空間，軟銀集團期待與之繼續緊密合作。”
The companies said Mr Ma and Mr Son will remain on the boards of SoftBank and Alibaba, respectively.
兩家公司表示，馬雲和孫正義將各自保留在軟銀和阿里巴巴的董事會席位。
“The deal would enhance SoftBank’s creditworthiness and make it easier to raise funds at lower costs in the future” now that investors see that Mr Son is willing to sell down the Alibaba stake, said Satoru Kikuchi, analyst at SMBC Nikko Securities.
三井住友銀行日興證券(SMBC Nikko Securities)分析師Satoru Kikuchi表示，“這筆交易將提高軟銀的信用可靠程度，方便它未來以較低成本籌措資金”，因爲投資者看到了孫正義願意減持阿里巴巴的股份。
Under the deal SoftBank intends to sell $2bn of shares to Alibaba itself, $400m to Alibaba Partnership, an entity including executives and outsiders, and $500m to “a major sovereign wealth fund”. It has also established a trust to offer $5bn in securities that convert into Alibaba’s American Depositary Receipts.
根據協議，軟銀將向阿里巴巴集團出售20億美元阿里股份，向阿里巴巴高管和外部人士組成阿里巴巴合夥人出售4億美元阿里股份，向“一家主要的主權財富基金”出售5億美元阿里股份。軟銀還成立了一個信託基金，發行50億美元的可轉換債券，這些債券可轉換成阿里巴巴的美國存託憑證(ADR)。
“As SoftBank looks to strengthen its own balance sheet, Alibaba determined that it was the best use of our capital to re-invest in our own business through an efficient buyback of a large number of shares in our own company that is accretive to our stockholders,” Mr Ma said in a separate statement.
馬雲在另一份聲明中表示：“當軟銀在尋求改善它的財報時，阿里巴巴相信，通過購回我們自己的股票，再投資於我們自己的業務，是對我們的資金最好的利用方式，也將爲我們的股東帶來實際的利益。”
SoftBank said the sale would allow it to increase its liquidity cushion and reduce its debt load. The company’s interest-bearing debt increased more than three-fold to ￥11.92tn ($108bn) after it acquired Sprint, now the fourth-largest US telecoms company, in 2013 for $22bn.
軟銀表示，這筆交易將使其能夠擴大其流動性緩衝，降低債務負擔。2013年，軟銀斥資220億美元收購了美國目前第四大電信企業Sprint。在那之後，軟銀付息債務增長了兩倍以上，達到11.92萬億日元（合1080億美元）。
It comes three months after SoftBank said its global operations including its holdings in Alibaba and Sprint would be separated from its Japanese businesses and overseen by Nikesh Arora, the former Google executive and Mr Son’s handpicked successor.
三個月前軟銀曾表示，軟銀全球業務（含在阿里巴巴及Sprint持有的股份）將與日本業務分隔開，並由谷歌(Google)前高管、孫正義親自挑選的繼任者尼克什•阿羅拉(Nikesh Arora)負責。
Mr Arora has been reassessing SoftBank’s vast portfolio of investments and analysts say the cash from the Alibaba sale would enable the Japanese group to boost its investments in technology and internet startups.
阿羅拉一直在重新評估軟銀龐大的投資組合。分析師表示，減持阿里巴巴股份所得的資金，將令這家日本集團能夠加大對科技和互聯網創業型企業的投資。
The company has invested in taxi-hailing companies Ola in India and Didi Kuaidi in China. Most recently, it invested $250m in the talent and sports agency WME-IMG.
軟銀已投資印度Ola和中國滴滴快的(Didi Kuaidi)等叫車公司。最近，它還向經紀與體育賽事管理公司WME-IMG投資2.5億美元。
Shares in SoftBank rose as much as 3.5 per cent on Wednesday morning in Tokyo while shares in Alibaba were down 2.9 per cent in after-hours trading in New York.
週三東京股市早盤，軟銀的股價一度上漲高達3.5%。阿里巴巴的股價則在紐約股市盤後交易中下跌2.9%。
