SoftBank Is Seller of $1 Billion Block-Trade in Coupang Shares
SVF Investments (UK) Ltd. sold 50 million Coupang shares for $20.87 a piece.
(Bloomberg) -- SoftBank Group Corp.’s Vision Fund was revealed to have been the seller behind a $1 billion block trade that resulted in a plunge of Coupang Inc. shares late last week.
SVF Investments (UK) Ltd. sold 50 million Coupang shares for $20.87 a piece, at least the second time in several months that it’s divested shares in the South Korean e-commerce giant, according to a filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The shares were sold at a price almost 30% lower than the previous sale price of $29.685 in September, highlighting a growing challenge SoftBank is facing to finance its sprawling investments in technology startups.
“I really cannot see how SoftBank is not seeing notable capital constraints given its $9 billion buyback pledge which according to some has not been fully financed,” Amir Anvarzadeh of Asymmetric Advisors wrote in a note.
A block of 50 million shares in Coupang was being marketed by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bloomberg reported last week, citing people familiar with the matter.
SoftBank Group first invested in Coupang in 2015, which was followed by the Vision Fund’s investment in 2018. Coupang went public in New York last year for $35 each in one of the biggest listings by an Asian company on a U.S. exchange.
SoftBank is Coupang’s largest shareholder with a 29% stake, according to latest data complied by Bloomberg.
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