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Saudi Arabia, SoftBank to create $100-bn tech fund
DUBAI/TOKYO: Saudi Arabia and Japan’s SoftBank Group on Friday said they will create a technology investment fund that could grow as large as $100 billion, aiming
DUBAI/TOKYO: Saudi Arabia and Japan’s SoftBank Group on Friday said they will create a technology investment fund that could grow as large as $100 billion, aiming to create one of the world’s largest private equity funds.
The plan is part of a series of business initiatives launched by Riyadh this year as Saudi Arabia, its economy hurt by low oil prices, deploys huge financial reserves in an effort to move into non-oil industries.
SoftBank’s founder and chairman Masayoshi Son, who has built his company into a $68-billion telecommunications and tech investment behemoth from a $50,000 startup, has been seeking to expand in new areas.
The Public Investment Fund (PIF), Saudi Arabia’s top sovereign wealth fund, is set to be the lead investment partner and may invest up to $45 billion over the next five years, while SoftBank expects to invest at least $25 billion, the Japanese company said.
Several other large investors are in talks on their possible participation and could bring the total size of the new fund up to $100 billion. The investors were not identified.
“With the establishment of the SoftBank Vision Fund, we will be able to step up investments in technology companies globally. Over the next decade, the SoftBank Vision Fund will be the biggest investor in the technology sector,” Son said.
The fund would be managed in the UK by an arm of SoftBank.
Saudi Arabia’s deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman has revealed a string of high-profile investment plans this year. He has said he aims to expand the PIF, founded in 1971 to finance development projects in the kingdom and until this year little known abroad, from $160 billion to about $2 trillion. In June, the PIF departed from Saudi Arabia’s strategy of low-risk investments and invested in Uber.
SoftBank, a diverse company with stakes from US carrier Sprint to e-commerce giant Alibaba, is also changing, shifting towards cutting edge tech investments after Son scrapped retirement plans in July and announced plans to reinforce “SoftBank 2.0”.
“SoftBank has been looking to invest aggressively in the internet of things, and this fund is part of that wider move,” said Naoki Yokota, analyst at SMBC Friend Research Center Ltd.
