Japan-based internet and telecoms conglomerate SoftBank has added at least 10 executives to SoftBank Investment Advisors, which manages the $97.7bn Vision Fund, Private Equity News reported on Thursday.
The new hires include Paul Davison, who was an associate at investment bank Rothschild & Co before moving to SoftBank in October. Lucio Di Ciaccio joined SoftBank earlier this month from private equity firm Carlyle Group, where he was part of the special situations team.
Both Davison and Di Ciaccio have joined SoftBank’s London office, where the Vision Fund’s chief executive, Rajeev Misra, is also located.
The remaining eight executives have joined the fund’s office in San Carlos in California. They include Justin Nam, former associate at private equity firm Gryphon Investors, and Denton Xu, former associate at private equity firm Francisco Partners.
Mihir Jain, a former executive at consultancy Boston Consulting Group, and Sebastian Cua, previously an analyst at investment management firm Toronado Capital Management.
The report did not reveal the identity of the remaining investors who have joined the Vision Fund.
SoftBank revealed in its financial report for Q3 2017 that it had grown the Vision Fund to $97.7bn, putting an additional $4.5bn into the vehicle itself. The corporate is targeting a $100bn close by the end of the year.
SoftBank had initially committed $25bn to in the fund. Limited partners also include consumer electronics companies Apple and Sharp, mobile semiconductor producer Qualcomm and contract manufacturing services provider Foxconn.
Other limited partners include Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund Public Investment Fund, which has committed $45bn, and Abu Dhabi state-owned Mubadala Investment Company, which put in $15bn.