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(Alliance News) - THG PLC late on Monday said SoftBank Group Corp will sell its entire shareholding.
The news follows a significant decline in THG's share price.
SoftBank will sell 80.6 million shares at a price of 39 pence per share, bringing its total disposal to GBP31.4 million. The shares were valued at around GBP480 million at the time of initial investment meaning the Japanese technology investment firm will write off GBP450 million.
Qatar Holding LLC, which is wholly owned by Qatar's sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority, will buy 67.8 million while THG founder Matthew Moulding will take the remaining 12.8 million.
The disposal will be completed on Thursday. Shares in THG were trading 10% higher at 50.64 pence each on Tuesday morning but have lost 85% of their value over the past 12 months.
THG is a Manchester-based e-commerce group. SoftBank's investment in May 2021 was part of a financial and trading partnership with THG, under which both companies would explore potential commercial agreements with each other.
As part of the deal, SoftBank held the option to subscribe for a 20% interest in THG Ingenuity for USD1.6 billion.
SoftBank withdrew from the THG Ingenuity deal in July, while THG has suffered from slowing sales and falling margins throughout the year.
Moulding commented: "We at THG extend our thanks to SoftBank for their support as a financial and commercial partner, and we will continue to benefit from the relationships formed across their international technology portfolio."
Softbank closed down 0.2% at JPY5,537.00 in Tokyo on Tuesday.
By Chris Dorrell; chrisdorrell@alliancenews.com
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