Telco SoftBank shares fall 3% as parent slashes stake

TOKYO, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Shares in wireless carrier SoftBank Corp 9434.T fell 3% in early trading on Monday after parent SoftBank Group Corp 9984.T said it would sell up to 22% of the telco's shares, slashing its exposure to the carrier to 40%.

SoftBank Group's shares were up almost 5% as a series of massive asset sales and share buybacks continue to fuel its climb from March lows.

SoftBank Group "is manifesting a very disciplined approach to managing its balance sheet (in a welcome change) but does not bode so well for (SoftBank Corp's) shareholders," Jefferies analyst Atul Goyal wrote in a note.

(Reporting by Sam Nussey; Editing by Himani Sarkar)

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