Puzzle & Dragons studio GungHo to regain majority stake from SoftBank for $685m

GungHo, the creator of mobile hit Puzzle & Dragons, looks set to buy back the majority of its own shares from owner SoftBank.

According to documents released by SoftBank, the two companies have entered into an agreement under which GungHo will buy back 23.47 per cent of its shares at 294 yen ($2.74) each – equating to a total of approximately $685 million to regain control.

SoftBank tool control of GungHo back in 2013, paying 25 billion yen ($265m) to claim just shy of 60 per cent of the company.

The sale is suspected to be part of a move by SoftBank to significantly slash its debt, which was reported as being around 11.9 trillion yen ($107bn) at the close of March.

The company was also recently rumoured to be considering a sale of its majority stake in Clash of Clans developer Supercell to Riot Games owner Tencent.