The Abu Dhabi investor Mubadala Development is in talks with SoftBank Group about a potential multibillion 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.
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,” the 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, last month with a fund-raising target of US$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’s Blackstone Capital Partners V. Tokyo-based SoftBank has already agreed to invest at least $25bn and the Saudis may put in as much as $45bn 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 Company, increasing efficiency and creating a global energy giant.
* Bloomberg
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