SoftBank's $100 Billion Technology Fund Establishes Its Home Base In London

Japan-based SoftBank Group pledged to invest $50 billion in the United States and create thousands of new jobs as part of its global $100 billion technology private equity group.

SoftBank's new fund, tentatively named SoftBank Vision Fund,
is part of a joint venture with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund. The two entities are looking to raise around $30 billion to meet its $100 billion commitment. SoftBank will invest $25 billion over a five-year period, while Saudi Arabia's commitment will be $45 billion over the same time period.

"SoftBank has a proven track record of investment successes," Bloomberg quoted Hideki Yasuda, an analyst at Ace Research Institute in Tokyo as saying. "They are looking for another Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE: BABA)."

According to a Bloomberg report SoftBank's new private equity group will be run out of London. Ten people have already been hired to manage the head office, which will be located at 69 Grosvenor Street — one of the most prestigious streets in all of England.

SoftBank's chief operations officer Jonathan Bullock and the company's chief financial officer Alok Sama will assume senior roles in London along with Rajeev Misra, head of SoftBank's strategic finance. An ex-Deutsche Bank banker named Nizar Al-Bassam and a Goldman Sachs partner Dalinc Ariburnu will serve as advisers to the fund.

Image Credit: Masayoshi Son. By nobihaya (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nobihaya/2842617461/) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons