Hyderabad, Aug. 17: VisualSoft Technologies has offloaded a 14 per cent stake in favour of Japan?s Softbank.

The deal comes just days after Softbank divested a part of its stake in a Chinese dotcom venture Alibaba.com to Yahoo.

?The deal, clinched yesterday, was valued at Rs 35.5 crore for about 27 lakh shares priced at Rs 127 each,? VisualSoft chief financial officer V. Krishnan said.

?We do anticipate a business relationship. But, as of now, there will be no change in the board,? Krishnan added.

After the deal, the promoter?s stake ? held by DVS Raju and others ? will come down to 23 per cent.

By keeping the divestment of stake below 15 per cent, the company has averted an open offer.

Just last week, Softbank, controlled by billionaire Masayoshi Son, had partially divested its stake in China?s Alibaba.com for $360 million (Rs 1,548 crore) in favour of Yahoo Inc. Softbank, Japan?s second-biggest provider of high-speed internet access, runs Yahoo?s broadband service in the country and has been a major shareholder in Alibaba.com. Since the divestment in Alibaba ? what was till then believed to be a dud investment ? Softbank has been one of the star performers on Japanese bourses.

There have been rumours that VisualSoft would rope in a strategic investor since July.

Some said VisualSoft promoters were planning to sell part of their stake to Srini Raju of iLabs, which is an affiliate of Satyam Computers. Satyam is the largest computer software maker in Hyderabad. The report gained credence because DVS Raju is Satyam chief Ramalinga Raju?s brother-in-law. Moreover, it is known that DVS is now more interested in infrastructure projects.

He heads a Malaysian consortium, which is turning the minor port of Gangavaram on the eastern coast into a separate special economic zone.

VisualSoft shares, which were on a high over the past few days sensing a stake sale, rose sharply on the news that Japanese major Softbank was coming on board.

The stock opened at Rs 157.50, touched a high of Rs 167 and closed at Rs 160.55 compared with Tuesday?s close of Rs 155.10, a gain of 3.51 per cent. This was on top of a gain of over 16 per cent on Tuesday.

VisualSoft was one of the high performers during the dotcom boom with its share price hovering over the four figure mark before it came crashing down when the bull-run ended.

Of late, the company was restructuring itself to include software services along with its software product portfolio.

VisualSoft Technologies was founded in 1996 by Raju, who was managing director of the company till June. At present, he is on the board as non-executive chairman.