SoftBank will sell most of its stake in Japan’s GungHo Online Entertainment for JPY73 billion ($680 million), which the gaming company will buy back through a tender offer.

The offer will start within 20 days from 3 June for JPY294 a share.

GungHo develops and distributes popular mobile games like Puzzle & Dragons and the Princess Punt series, which it claims has been downloaded more than 6 million times.

SoftBank currently has a 25.8 per cent stake in the company, and is selling off a 23.5 per cent.

The news comes a week after the telecom giant said it will sell shares in Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba to cut debt and raise cash, amid continued woes at Sprint, the US operator it acquired three years ago.

The total value of the shares sold in Alibaba so far stands at around $10 billion.

Last month it was reported Chinese internet giant Tencent was in talks to buy SoftBank’s majority stake in Clash of Clans maker Supercell.

SoftBank’s portfolio of videogame companies has come under scrutiny as a sale of such assets would improve its balance sheet. It lists Supercell as an “investment asset”.