Japan-based telecommunications and internet conglomerate SoftBank is set to announce its second Vision Fund as soon as this week with a commitment of its own of up to $50bn, Bloomberg reported yesterday.
Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Mubadala Investment Company, respective sovereign wealth fuunds for Saudi Arabia and the emirate of Abu Dhabi, are thought to be among the limited partners, having backed the original Vision Fund, which has formally closed $98.6bn of its targeted $100bn.
Mohammed bin Salman, chairman of PIF and crown prince of Saudi Arabia, told Bloomberg in October 2018 he was looking to contribute $45bn to the next Vision Fund, the same amount committed to the first vehicle, though subsequent reports have suggested some of the LPs have been dissatisfied with elements of how the vehicle is run.
A range of other limited partners are also expected to return, though their identities could not be ascertained. The existing fund’s backers include consumer technology producer Apple, manufacturing services provider Foxconn and mobile chipmaker Qualcomm.
SoftBank is still working out details of the fund, the target size of which remains unknown. It has hired Goldman Sachs, Centricus and Cantor Fitzgerald to help raise the fund. It hopes to close the fund by March 2020.
The original fund was seeking an additional $15bn in capital as recently as April 2019, adding to a $3bn capital call facility supplied by Goldman Sachs, Mizuho Financial Group, Citigroup, Samba Financial Group and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group the previous month.
Vision Fund had invested a total of $64.2bn in 71 companies by June 2019, according to SoftBank founder, chairman and CEO Masayhoshi Son. Its portfolio includes global brands such as ride hailing service Uber, co-working spaces provider The We Company and food delivery service DoorDash.
SoftBank Vision Fund is managed by the conglomerate’s UK-based SoftBank Investment Advisers. The unit, which recently opened an India office, is set to hire six operating partners for the Mumbai location, the Economic Times reported yesterday.
The corporate hopes to invest between $2bn and $4bn in India-based companies over the next two years. Vision Fund has already deployed $8bn locally in businesses such as hotel booking platform Oyo.
