Japanese telecom giant SoftBank announced on Wednesday that it is attempting to raise capital by selling shares worth $7.9 billion from its holdings in Chinese e-commerce major Alibaba. SoftBank will continue to hold 28% stake in the company, where earlier it held 32.2%, Fortune reported. SoftBank is facing debt and attempting to revive Sprint, a United States wireless telecom company it had acquired in 2013, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The company's CEO Masayohi Son had invested $20 million in Alibaba in 2000, and it has since grown into China’s biggest e-commerce firm, with an estimated worth of $200 billion. “This investment has been phenomenally successful and, over the past 16 years, we have built a close relationship, working together on many exciting projects,” said Son in a statement. SoftBank’s shares rose more than two percent, while Alibaba’s fell by 3.1% after the announcement.

The Japanese company has major investments all over the world, including in India. In the past two years, it has invested $627 million in online marketplace Snapdeal and $210 million in taxi hailing service Ola Cabs. Its other investments include Indian start-ups such as Oyo Rooms, Housing.com and Grofers.