SoftBank holds first close on $93bn

The giant investment fund being raised by telecoms conglomerate SoftBank Group has held a first close on $93 billion, the company said on Saturday. The fund aims to hold a final close on $100 billion within six months.

Investors in the Jersey-domiciled SoftBank Vision Fund alongside SoftBank Group itself have been confirmed as the Public Investment Fund of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – as previously reported – the Mubadala Investment Company, Apple, Foxconn Technology Group, Qualcomm Incorporated and Sharp Corporation.

Linklaters acts as fund counsel and provided tax support, Kirkland & Ellis acts as US regulatory counsel to the fund, and Carey Olsen as Jersey fund counsel. The fund is administered by Aztec Group, the company said.

The fund will be advised by wholly-owned subsidiaries of SBG, SB Investment Advisers which is headed up by Rajeev Misra. Nizar Al-Bassam and Dalinc Ariburnu of newly formed Centricus, who advised on structuring and fund raising efforts for the Vision Fund, will continue their roles as advisers.

The fund, which is already four times larger than the largest ever private equity fund, is targeting minority and majority interests in both private and public companies, from emerging technology businesses to established, multi-billion dollar companies requiring substantial growth funding, the company said in its statement. It will invest across the gamut of technology sub-sectors, from the 'internet of things' to computational biology to technology infrastructure.

The fund's initial investments will be a number of assets already acquired by SoftBank Group, including the likes of ARM Holdings, Intelsat and Guardant Health.