SoftBank to commit $40 billion to second Vision Fund, says report

Tech conglomerate SoftBank Group will invest $40 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 was 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 and Standard Chartered

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 has been pulled further into domestic projects as the government runs a larger-than-expected deficit. Reuters