SoftBank’s Vision Fund raises $93 bln of capital

SoftBank Group Corp.’s tech fund has raised over $93 billion from backers led by the Japanese company and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), the Japanese SoftBank Group said in a statement on Saturday.

Other investors in the $100 billion Vision Fund include Abu Dhabi’s sovereign fund Mubadala Investment Co., tech giant Apple Inc., Qualcomm Inc., Foxconn Technology Group and Sharp Corp.

“SoftBank has long made bold investments in transformative technologies and supported disruptive entrepreneurs,” Masayoshi Son, chairman and CEO of SoftBank said in the statement. “The SoftBank Vision Fund is consistent with this strategy and will help build and grow businesses creating the foundational platforms of the next stage of the Information Revolution.”

Yasir Alrumayyan, managing director of PIF, said the new fund can embark on direct investments following the initial close and raising more than $93 billion of funds.

The fund is expected to support the Kingdom’s strategy of developing a diversified, knowledge-based economy, he added.

Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Co. also confirmed that it has made a $15 billion commitment to the Fund .

SoftBank is aiming to complete raising $100 billion within six months.

The new fund will target long-term investment opportunities and will also seek to buy minority and majority interests in both private and public companies, from emerging businesses to established, multi-billion-dollar firms, the statement added.

It is expected to invest in mobile computing, communications infrastructure, computational biology, consumer internet businesses and financial technology.

The Vision Fund will be advised by SoftBank subsidiaries collectively called SB Investment Advisers.

Rajeev Misra, SoftBank’s head of strategic finance, will be chief executive officer of SB Investment Advisers and a member of the fund’s investment committee.

Last October, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund and Softbank Group signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding to set up a technology investment fund that could grow as large as $100 billion.

The PIF had previously said it would invest nearly $45 billion in the fund over five years. Softbank is investing $28 billion.