Softbank Group Corp is in discussions with potential investors in Canada and the Middle East to raise US$7 billion of additional capital for its technology fund, people familiar with the matter said.
The Japanese company is in talks with Canadian pension funds, sovereign wealth funds in Kuwait and Qatar and technology companies, the people said, asking not to be identified as the discussions are ongoing.
The new commitments would increase the total pool to US$100 billion, although there is no guarantee that the parties will reach an agreement, they said.
The Vision Fund is to charge a performance fee of 20 percent and a management fee of 0.5 percent to 1 percent, the people said. That compares to private equity firms, which typically charge 2 percent of the assets they oversee, plus 20 percent of profits.
Softbank plans to hire about 50 people this year to help manage its investments, the people said.
Representatives for Softbank and the Qatari wealth fund declined to comment, while no one at the Kuwait Investment Authority was available to comment.
Softbank and Saudi Arabia formally announced the first round of capital commitments for the largest-ever technology investment fund last month, giving the Japanese company’s founder, Masayoshi Son, the firepower to accelerate investments in cutting-edge technologies and start-ups.
More than US$93 billion has been secured from backers led by the Japanese company and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Co, Apple Inc, Qualcomm Inc, Foxconn Technology Group (富士康) and Sharp Corp are also investing.
Son, who has vowed to become the biggest investor in the technology industry over the next decade, has already started making good on that promise.
Softbank last month invested US$5 billion in Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing (滴滴出行) and put US$1.4 billion into digital payments start-up Paytm, the largest-ever funding round from a single investor in India’s technology sector.
Softbank also quietly amassed a US$4 billion stake in Nvidia Corp, making it the fourth-largest shareholder in the graphics chipmaker, people familiar with the matter have said.
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