Vision Fund, the almost-$100bn investment fund managed by telecommunications and internet group SoftBank, has secured $3bn in debt financing, Bloomberg reported today, citing two people with knowledge of the matter.
Investment banking firm Goldman Sachs and financial services firm Mizuho Financial Group co-led the financing, supplied through a capital call facility that also included Citigroup, Samba Financial Group and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group.
Vision Fund has been equipped with $98.6bn including capital and assets from SoftBank, $1bn each from several corporate limited partners, $45bn from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and $15bn from Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Company.
A capital call facility functions as a short-term loan intended to bridge the period between an investor – like Vision Fund – committing to a transaction and receiving the capital for the deal from its backers.
Goldman Sachs and Mizuho Financial were reported in November 2018 to be assembling a $4bn credit facility for Vision Fund. Plans for a $9bn facility that were reported the month before do not appear to have been followed up by the firm.
The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Vision Fund had committed half its capital, having made dozens of large-scale investments in technology developers and mobile service providers, and that at its present rate of investment it would run out of funds within 18 months.
Vision Fund has backed five nine-figure deals in the past month alone, including a $940m investment in autonomous delivery vehicle developer Nuro and a $1.5bn commitment to online automotive retailer Chehaoduo. It also led a $1bn funding round for shipping services platform Flexport.
