Mubadala Said to Consider Investing in SoftBank’s Tech Fund
(Bloomberg) -- Abu Dhabi investor Mubadala Development Co. is in talks with SoftBank Group Corp. about a potential multi-billion dollar investment in its technology fund, people familiar with the matter said.
Japan's SoftBank, run by Masayoshi Son, is also in talks with European and North American investors, one of the people said, asking not to be identified because the deliberations are private. No final agreements have been reached and talks may still falter, the people said. The Qatar Investment Authority sovereign wealth fund is also in discussions to join the project, people familiar with the matter said last month.
“We are taking a serious look at a potential investment to the fund as we do with similar, strong investment opportunities,” Mubadala spokesman Brian Lott said by phone, declining to comment further. Matthew Nicholson, a spokesman for SoftBank, declined to comment.
SoftBank and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund announced the new venture, which will be run by SoftBank's head of strategic finance Rajeev Misra, in October with a fundraising target of $100 billion. The tech-focused vehicle, tentatively named the SoftBank Vision Fund, is appealing to Middle Eastern investors and sovereign wealth funds, which are looking for new sources of income as a plunge in oil prices puts pressure on economic growth in the region.
At $100 billion, the fund would be almost five-times larger than the biggest private equity fund, Blackstone Group LP's Blackstone Capital Partners V, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Tokyo-based SoftBank has already agreed to invest at least $25 billion and the Saudis may put in as much as $45 billion over the next five years, with other large investors making up the rest, the firms have said.
Abu Dhabi is combining Mubadala and the International Petroleum Investment Co., increasing efficiency and creating a global energy giant, state news agency WAM reported in June.
--With assistance from Alex Sherman Ambereen Choudhury Matthew Campbell and Pavel Alpeyev To contact the reporter on this story: Dinesh Nair in London at dnair5@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Aaron Kirchfeld at akirchfeld@bloomberg.net, Amy Thomson, Elizabeth Fournier
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