SoftBank to commit $40b to second Vision Fund

Tokyo: Tech conglomerate SoftBank Group Corp will invest $40 billion (Dh146 billion) in its forthcoming second Vision Fund, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

SoftBank’s board will meet on Thursday to approve the commitment, the WSJ reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

While the first, $100 billion Vision Fund launched with $60 billion in backing from the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi, SoftBank has pledged to launch its second even without such support as it markets the fund to potential investors.

The second fund has secured investment from Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Standard Chartered Plc, WSJ said.

Goldman hopes the commmitment will help secure work on the growing number of SoftBank portfolio companies heading to the public markets, the report said. Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund will also invest, the WSJ said.

SoftBank, Goldman Sachs and Standard Chartered declined to comment.

Tokyo-based SoftBank can tout the 45 per cent internal rate of return made by investors in the first fund’s common shares - albeit gains that are mostly on paper.

Since the first fund’s launch its biggest outside investor, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), has been pulled further into domestic projects as the government runs a larger-than-expected deficit, potentially limiting its overseas ambitions.

While PIF is among existing investors in talks with SoftBank, any decision to invest in the second fund will be made only after assessing a formal proposal, a source familiar with the talks said.

With the first Vision Fund having burned though much of its cash in the two years since it launched with investments in more than 80 late stage tech startups, the fund’s manager is ramping up its staff numbers as it looks to manage the transition to the launch of the second fund.