Vision Fund, the $97.7bn fund managed by telecommunications and internet group SoftBank, has hired Goldman Sachs and Mizuho to raise $4bn for a credit facility, Reuters reported on Friday.
The investors have not been formally disclosed but two of the fund’s limited partners, the Saudi Arabia-owned Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Company, were there when the plan was presented in London late last week, according to Reuters.
The proposed credit facility is being sought alongside a separate $9bn facility from an assortment of financial services firms. It will support the $93bn at which the fund initially closed in May 2017 and the $4.7bn SoftBank added in November 2017.
PIF and Mubadala were the two biggest limited partners in Vision Fund, contributing $45bn and $15bn respectively, though the former’s commitment has in particular attracted scrutiny following the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Saudi Arabia’s Turkish consulate.
The funds’ commitment was made through a mixture of debt and equity financing according to the Financial Times, which reported that PIF supplied $17bn in equity and $28bn in while Mubadala put in $5.7bn of equity and $9.3bn in debt.
Vision Fund has emerged as the most powerful venture capital investor worldwide over the past 18 months, making 10-figure investments in portfolio companies including ride hailing platform Uber, working space provider WeWork, dynamic glass producer View and online marketplace Flipkart.
SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son has publicly stated he intends the fund to be the first in a series of $100bn funds and PIF said last month it planned to replicate its $45bn commitment in a second fund, though the status of that proposed investment is currently unclear.
