CEO: PIF-backed $100bn SoftBank fund ‘oversubscribed’

Japanese Internet firm SoftBank is close to sealing an SR375.3 billion ($100 billion) technology fund it set up with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), the company’s CEO Masayoshi Son reportedly said.
“I am talking to a few investors and I think we are oversubscribed,” Son was quoted as saying in a Bloomberg report.
SoftBank and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund announced the new venture in October with the Japanese company saying it will invest $25 billion, while Saudi Arabia committed $45 billion. The two have been talking to other investors for the remaining $30 billion.
Improving earnings at SoftBank’s US unit Sprint Corp. and steady cash flows at home have freed Son to focus on his longer-term vision for a company that’s made tens of billions investing in companies such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Supercell Oy. 
Qatar and Abu Dhabi investor Mubadala Development Co. are considering investing in what is tentatively named SoftBank Vision Fund, people familiar with the matter have said.
With the funding in place, Son said he will be looking for opportunities to make the investments.
According to Bloomberg, the Japanese billionaire also said that SoftBank would surpass its commitment of investing $10 billion in India in 10 years. 
“There is new technology and new excitement in India,” he said.
Son, 59, has been among the most bullish investors in Indian startups and SoftBank has plowed hundreds of millions of dollars into its portfolio in the country.
Son is betting on the future of connected devices with the purchase of ARM and he has said the chipmaker will be a key building block for the Internet of Things and play a role in bringing about advanced artificial intelligence.
“I dreamed of acquiring ARM for 10 years and finally I had the money,” Son said in the report.

Source: Arab News