SoftBank Group opened talks with Deutsche Telekom to sell a significant proportion of its stake in T-Mobile US, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported, less than two months after the completion of a big-money merger involving its subsidiary Sprint.

WSJ did not confirm the number of shares on the table or potential cost of the stake, however the move is said to be part of a wider fundraising effort and was reported on the same day SoftBank revealed a record annual loss in the year to end-March.

When the deal to merge Sprint with T-Mobile was completed on 1 April, SoftBank held a 24 per cent share of the combined business, Deutsche Telekom a controlling 42 per cent stake and the remainder in circulation among public shareholders.

The division of the company was a slight revision from the original agreement, with a change agreed following weakness in the performance of Sprint during the lengthy merger approval process. The updated deal included a clause allowing SoftBank to claim additional shares from Deutsche Telekom if a number of targets were met.

Media speculation on the future of SoftBank’s stake in T-Mobile comes at a time of financial turbulence for the Japanese conglomerate, with its performance impacted by the value of some investments held in its once-vaunted Vision Fund among other impacts.

In March, it announced plans to sell almost $41 billion-worth of assets to strengthen its balance sheet and cut debt.